What's The Catch
by positiveforce
Summary: The story of Artie and Tina from exes to fiance's to friends to lovers again, along with others and how they turned out to be. Setting from A Wedding to Dreams Come True possible future. With songs, because it's Glee.
1. Prologue

**We were all very happy with Artie and Tina being endgame, but we wanted explanations, right?**

* * *

Rachel entered the choir room on a Tuesday afternoon.

"Oh," she's surprised to see Artie sitting beside what looked like a romantic dining table.

"Hey Rach," Artie greeted her happily.

"Hey Artie," Rachel greeted back. She stared at him.

He was just sitting there – smiling, but not necessarily looking at anything. It was beginning to freak her out.

"I didn't know you were still here," she said. She eyed the utensils. She wasn't sure if he was finished or about to start. The kids would be here in an hour, and they needed the space to practice for Sectionals.

Artie noticed, finally awoken from his ridiculously happy state. "Don't worry," he assured. "I was just cleaning up."

"Oh," said Rachel, relieved. "Let me help you."

The two of them placed the plates and utensils back in the basket in silence.

The silence bothered Rachel. They never were the best of friends, but they were still close, she thought. Also, she admitted she was curious with who the lunch setting was for.

Finally, "So," she started teasingly. "What happened here?"

Artie couldn't stop himself from grinning every time he says _her_ name. "Tina."

Rachel smiled at the thought. She remembered that time she had a picnic with Finn in the auditorium. "That's nice."

That was all she could reply. Despite the many years they've spent together, she never really had long conversations with either Artie or Tina. Still, whatever conversations they had, Rachel thought it was enough to seal a true form of friendship.

The silence came back, but it wasn't awkward anymore. Both of them were smiling. That was enough.

"I gotta go, Rachel," Artie replied when they were finished. "I have a wedding to plan."

Rachel looked surprised. Brittana and Klaine's wedding just ended. "_Another_ wedding?"

"It's not soon," he explained. "But I like to think ahead."

As he placed the basket on his lap and wheeled toward the door, he turned to Rachel and smiled again. "I sorta proposed," he said.

Before Rachel could even react, Artie wheeled away with a wide grin plastered on his face like an idiot.

He couldn't even wait until he reached his house to sing Hey Soul Sister by Train.

They'd been singing this song the moment they first heard it on radio – when they were still dating. It was a fun song.

It was sort of _their_ song. Or his song to her.

_Heeey heeeey heeeeey_

The song bursted out of him the moment he was alone in the hallways. It felt like it was waiting to come out of him the moment Tina agreed to the idea.

_Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains  
I knew I wouldn't forget you  
And so I went and let you blow my mind_

After all these years of kisses, dreams, heartbreak, pain, reconciliation, friendship, valedictorian speeches, stronger bonds, it all boiled down to how Tina always made him feel – _smitten_.

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair, you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight_

He couldn't get the song out of his head all day. Which is surprising, given the fact that he had tried to avoid this song since they had broken up five years ago – or since that moment the Warblers sang it on Sectionals.

He knew this happy song was always going to make him fall in love with Tina Cohen-Chang again.

_I'm so obsessed  
My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest  
I believe in you, like a virgin, you're Madonna  
And I'm always gonna wanna blow your mind_

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair, you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight_

After all these years of trying to forget the tune, every word still came out of him perfectly.

_The way you can't cut a rug  
Watching you's the only drug I need  
So gangster, I'm so thug  
You're the only one I'm dreaming of  
You see I can be myself now finally  
In fact there's nothing I can't be  
I want the world to see you'll be with me_

This song was always in the back of Artie's mind.

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight_

_Heeey heeeey heeeeey_

Tina was always in the back of his mind - and now that thought comforted him.

* * *

**The next chapter is ready and much much much longer than this. Thoughts would be really appreciated, like if I captured the characters well and song choices or suggestions would be gladly appreciated!**


	2. 1 Almost Lover

Tina was finishing her report. She loved to finish papers in the last minute – not because she was lazy, but because deadlines were the only thing that motivated her to finish boring projects. Also, she read somewhere that pressure helped increase creativity. Of course, she wanted to believe that.

She was motivated to finish this paper. She even had a writing playlist to help her concentrate.

But her phone beeped. Cheating preventing herself from distraction, she took a peek at her phone and read Mike's name.

'Tina,' he texted.

_Not now,_ she thought to herself.

_Now, you are addicted to nuclear bonds. Nuclear bonds, Tina Cohen-Chang. In this hour, you are only interested in Organic Chemistry. Not abs. Chemistry. Do you understand?_

_Of course, Mike could be texting me for an Organic Chemistry question, right? It wouldn't hurt to –_

'Chang,' she replied.

She waited for his text back, completely forgetting her paper.

'What are u doing?'

'Just finishing a paper, hbu?' _Just finishing a paper that dictates half of her final grade_ – it's no big deal.

'Ditto' followed by a flirty emoji.

Tina smiled at that.

'What's it about?' Mike added.

'Organic chemistry, mostly about nuclear bonds and I'm sorta almost finished' Tina replied, even if she was not.

'Oh, mine's about dancing lol'

She giggled at that.

'You win harder thesis competition!' he added, followed by three different flirtatious emojis.

Tina smiled at her phone like an idiot. 'I bet yours is hard too, we better go back to work tho'

She added a sad face.

At least she had little self-control. Of course she expected Mike to insist on talking to her some more. They were like this almost every day. It was very predictable, but she liked it.

'Kay, talk to u later!' he replied, then added a smiling emoji.

Tina was upset that he could cut talking to her so easily, but figured it was probably for the best.

'Talk to u later too!'

She couldn't count how many emojis followed that.

She stared at her phone for a little too long. She waited for his last reply.

It didn't come.

She groaned to herself.

_Get back to your paper, Tina!_ she thought. She started her second intro in the paragraph. It was easy, really. She had this in the bag.

Three pages left - her phone rang.

She picked it up, thinking it was Mike.

"Chang," she greeted.

"Fabray," said Puck. "I like our new greeting," he joked.

Tina groaned.

"Nice to hear from you too," Puck added.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you were Mike," she explained. "We were texting, then we weren't, then I was writing my paper, then the phone rang and I didn't check to see who it was, I just assumed it was Mike because, like I said, we were texting, but then we stopped. I think I scared him with too many emojis, so now I'm –"

"Breathe, Tina," Puck reminded her.

Tina took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm calm now. What's up?"

"I was just checking up on you," he assured. "I thought you might still be upset about the whole rejected proposal situation."

Tina frowned every time she remembered.

"...but you seem okay," continued Puck. "Go Team Chang!"

She smiled. "Aw, thanks Puck. I was upset at first, but I figured he was right. I was rushing into it and not thinking things through. I'm way too young to be worrying about being forever alone."

She thought she sounded like Artie.

"Besides," she added. "I don't have to worry about that anymore."

"What do you mean?" Puck asked.

"I have a safety net," she exclaimed.

Puck could hear her smile through the phone, but he made no reaction.

Tina assumed he didn't understand what that meant, so she began explaining. "It's when two people make a deal that if they don't get married by a certain age, they're going to marry each other."

"I know what it means," he replied, a bit annoyed. He hesitated before adding, "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Sure it is!" she argued. "If it's with someone you have a great connection with -"

"So Chang rejected your proposal, but accepted your backup proposal? That wasn't very smart," Puck commented. "And that's coming from me!"

"It's not with Mike," Tina explained.

"Is it one of your Brown friends who can't get laid? That's sort of pathetic, Tina."

She groaned some more.

"No," she answered.

"Then who is it?"

"It's Artie."

"Why?"

"It's _Artie_," she pressed on. "Artie," like saying his name is explanation enough.

Seeing as it is not, she added, "Everyone needs a little more Artina in our lives."

It was lame.

"I thought you were more of a Tartie," said Puck. "Anyway, that's not the point. Why would you make that pact with Abrams, Tina?"

"Why not?" Tina asked. "He's my oldest best friend!" she said. "He understands me more than anyone else, and I'm pretty sure I understand him. We've already been with each other in sickness and in health – might as well put a ring in it."

She hadn't really thought it through, the moment Artie proposed. Now that she's explaining it to Puck, she realized it was a really good idea.

"I'm not sure you guys noticed this, but we actually have great chemistry. He's sweet and charming. Our kids would be very smart, driven and creative. We like the same things, so we won't have a problem shopping for houses," she assured herself. "Of course, he'd be too addicted to vintage furniture and I don't know how that's going to compliment our expensive technology-based home, but we'll figure it out. We'll hire the best interior designer! – Or Kurt. Of course, there'd be no second floor – no, I wanted a terrace - I got it!" she happily exclaimed. "Ramps!"

She was practically beaming with joy. That was the best deal ever.

"Was the pact if neither of you were getting married until next month?" Puck asked. "Because you sound pretty sure you're going to marry him right now." He was laughing, but he had a point.

"A girl can dream," she said lamely.

Puck was right. She wasn't sure she was going to marry Artie anyway. It was a just a pact after all. It meant if they hadn't found the love of their lives before turning thirty, they were each other's _last_ resort. They still had plenty of time.

"Tina?" said the voice on the phone. "Earth to Cohen-Chang," the voice added.

"What?"

"Look," he started. "You and Artie are really compatible and stuff," he explained, sounding like his words were carefully thought out. "I'd understand why it would be smart for the two of you to have… babies and houses and whatnot. But making a pact where the both of you are each other's _last choice_ isn't smart. One of you might hold on to the idea of marrying each other and get hurt when the other one finds someone else."

Tina was pleasantly surprised at Puck's judgment. Okay, maybe she was just surprised. "You're right," she admitted. "It's shocking… you're _right_?"

Puck laughed at that. "Of course, I am. Quinn has made me insightful about relationships and stuff."

"Sure," Tina said, supporting but not agreeing with his explanation. She knew Quinn wasn't smart about dating either - she dated a professor who had a family, lied to a guy about who she really was, and, most importantly, had a tattoo of Ryan Seacrest's face. Still, it was sweet how Quinn and Puck were balancing each other out now.

"I don't want you to get your hopes up, Tina," Puck said.

That sounded a bit offensive, Tina thought. "What?" Her voice was sharp and angry.

Why was she the one getting their hopes up?

"I'm just saying!" Puck stammered. He seemed to have struck a nerve. Still, he went on. "You're obviously the one who wants the marriage more –"

"I have to get back to my paper," Tina snapped, before adding in a fake sweet voice, "See you soon, Puck. I miss you."

They had surprisingly become good friends in the past few months, saying terms of endearments and checking up with each other.

Still, there was sarcasm there.

"I miss you too," Puck replied sweetly, before Tina angrily shut her phone off.

Well, she wasn't really sure if Artie even wanted to pin himself down to marriage. And if he did, would it really be with his whiny and needy best friend?

Artie was charismatic, smart, funny, and kind, occasionally sexist, but he apologizes – he'd have plenty of opportunities to find the love of his life. There'd be many future options before he'd even reach to last resort, Tina thought.

Artie was caring. It was natural for him to help her out, even with a big gesture like that.

The proposal was sweet, but it wasn't real.

Thinking about their future together where the two of them were more than best friends should seem ludicrous. It should be weird. Of course, they had dated before – something the both of them kept on forgetting.

She tried to push the thought aside. She had a paper.

_Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream_

The thought kept interrupting her.

She was sure Artie loved him, but not in the way Artie would love his future wife. As long as Tina was his future wife, Artie may never look for a better one – someone he'd actually want to marry. And that wasn't fair to him.

What if Artie found his true love and he couldn't do anything about it because she tied him down? She wouldn't let Artie lose the love of his life. She knew what it felt like.

_I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
I should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

She went back to writing her paper, a bit saddened, but the fact that she only had fifteen minutes until deadline made her type really quickly. She had to stop slacking off.

Her phone started ringing. It was the love of her life - Mike. Her face lit up, but now wasn't the right time. They'd been talking almost every night, mostly about nothing. It would probably be the same tonight.

_We walked along a crowded street  
You took my hand and danced with me  
Images_

She let it ring.

_And when you left you kissed my lips  
You told me you'd never ever forget these images, no_

Maybe it was her sudden epiphany in organic chemistry that made her realize this, or it was in the back of her mind all along: all those years waiting for Mike Chang to get back together with her wasn't healthy or romantic.

_I never want to see you unhappy  
I thought you'd want the same for me_

It was just sad.

_Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
I should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

After two rings, her phone stopped ringing. She knew she shouldn't make a big deal out of this, but two – just _two_? Even in calling her, he gives up easily.

_I cannot go to the ocean  
I cannot drive the streets at night  
I cannot wake up in the morning  
Without you on my mind  
So you're gone and I'm haunted  
And I bet you are just fine  
Did I make it that easy  
To walk right in and out of my life?_

She didn't even know where she stood with Mike, to be honest. They're flirting, like all the time. They're texting every minute of every day. But not once did he ask if they could ever get back together. Maybe he was never planning to.

_Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream_

In all honesty, her love for Mike could straighten out all the confusion he's making her feel.

But that wasn't enough.

What about his love for her?

_I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you_

She was tired of making excuses for him. He was pretty good at making excuses himself.

_I should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

It wasn't worth it.

"Yes!" she said to herself when she was finally done with her paper.

In perfect timing, her phone rang again. She looked at the screen and smiled at the name.

"Artie," she greeted.

"Hi Tina, are you busy?" Artie replied. Now he sounded busy.

"I was just finished with my paper!" she announced happily. "You're timing was perfect, I was just about to call you."

"Really?" he sounded impressed. "I told you we had telepathy."

Tina laughed. "You're such a dork."

"Is anything wrong?" he asked, suddenly worried. "You never call me a dork unless something's wrong."

"I always call you a dork," she insisted.

"You call me a nerd when you're happy," Artie explained. "Totally different."

"Nerd," she replied. Although there was some truth in that.

"I was calling, because I wanted you to see the video I sent you," Artie said. He clearly knew Tina didn't want to talk about her problem… yet.

"Oh, sorry I wasn't online," Tina said. "Is it Brittany and Santana's wedding?"

"And Kurt and Blaine's, yes," Artie said.

He always trusted Tina with his videos. She was always the one who saw them first.

She pressed play. Music started playing – Landslide. The first moment Santana realized her feelings for Brittany.

_I took my love and took it down  
I climbed a mountain and I turned around  
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills  
Till the landslide brought me down_

"Is that Fleetwood Mac?" Tina asked.

"Yes," Artie replied. "I think it's the song where Santana realized she was in love with Brittany… Sue told me."

"Sure," she said. "For someone who once dated Brittany, you don't seem bitter at all."

"Of course, I'm not. It was a million years ago. I wasn't really in love with Brittany, you know."

She knew.

"I forgot you _got a long list of ex lovers_," she teased.

"Have they _told you I'm insane_?" Artie joked.

Sometimes Tina wanted to ask him if he ever was in love with anyone. Particularly, her.

_Well, I've been afraid of changing  
'Cause I've built my life around you  
But time makes you bolder  
Even children get older  
And I'm getting older too_

"A-Artie?" she stammered. She rarely stammered by accident.

"Uh huh?"

Now she had two options: ask him if he had really loved her, or tell him that she's calling the back-up engagement off.

Maybe he never took the engagement seriously anyway. Maybe they'd just forget about it in the future.

"Tina?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still there?"

"Yes. Why?"

"What were you saying?" he asked. Before Tina could answer, Artie added, "Are you sleepy? You can watch this tomorrow or any day of the week really. They won't need this until next week anyway."

"Oh, I… was just wondering where Blaine and Kurt were in the video?" Well, she wondered about that too.

"They have separate videos," he explained, "but they almost have the same footage. I don't think Santana or Kurt will be thrilled in sharing the same spotlight in video, you know. I'm actually pretty surprised Brittany's wish for a double wedding was granted, actually."

"Well, Kurt and Blaine are pretty impulsive," Tina commented.

Artie laughed. This was coming from Tina.

They watched the whole video, laughing at every funny moment. When it was over, the video faded from dancing.

"Artie?"

"Uh huh?" he replied, pretty drowsily.

The both of them were sleepy. It was 2am.

"Why isn't there footage of me dancing with Mike?"

"T-there isn't?" he answered nervously. One can hear him fumbling all over his laptop, "but I was sure I added all the footage of people dancing - "

"It's okay," Tina said. "I looked pretty dancing in Hey Ya."

"You do," he replied.

Tina was sure Artie could hear her smiling over the phone. "It's a really lovely video, Artie. I'm really happy I was the first one to see this."

"That's because you're my best friend, Tina," he said, before yawning.

"You're mine too," she said before yawning too. "I'm going to sleep now. Mr. Simpson's my first professor tomorrow – don't want to be late."

"Is he the one with the unibrow?" Artie said.

"No," Tina said. "But he is Mr. Simpson. _Mr. Ryerson's_ my first professor tomorrow," she corrected herself.

"Is he the one who looks like Homer Simpson?" Artie asked, laughing.

"Yes," Tina replied. "I still mix the two up."

She yawned again. Artie caught it too.

"Good night, Tina," Artie said. "Love you."

"I love you too, Artie. Good night."

They always said that.

* * *

**I'm sorry if there's a lot of Mike. I just want the perfect closure for Tina and him. I mean, there's no denial they were together. But I'd like to poke out why they weren't good together and other stuff too for better character development. Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated!**


	3. 2 Cool Kids

It had been five months since Artie visited McKinley. It still felt the same. The hallways still felt empty at 2 in the afternoon.

Of course, the last time he was here was one of the greatest moments in his life. He tried so hard to keep his cool back then. He had just proposed to his best friend, Tina Cohen-Chang.

He couldn't wait to see her again, but she wasn't arriving until next week, along with the other alumni.

Since Rachel and Kurt were busy with their last project in NYADA, it was just Artie, Sam, and Mr. Schue this week.

_Yes, I do, I believe  
That one day I will be  
Where I was right there  
Right next to you_

It was going to be a long week.

_And it's hard  
The days just seems so dark  
The moon, the stars  
Are nothing without you_

It's not that Artie didn't like Sam or Mr. Schue. Sam had felt like his best friend back in New York, minus the part where Sam was slut-shaming him and all. And Mr. Schue had really helped him with a lot of things too, but he always felt like a father-type to Artie, never a friend.

Of course, Kitty was there, but that would probably be awkward. They danced in the wedding, but they never actually talked. Now that Artie had thought about it, even when they were together, they never shared conversations that were about nothing in particular.

Still, Artie felt bad if he'd never try to make conversation with Kitty. After all, she's the only person he knows in the new New Directions whose name he'd get right the first time.

Why did he have to do a film project about Glee Club in the first place? Oh right, it was an excuse to film Tina's smile again.

_Your touch, your skin  
Where do I begin?  
No words can explain  
The way I'm missing you_

_Deny this emptiness  
This hole that I'm inside  
These tears  
They tell their own story_

Artie wheeled toward the choir room. "Hey," he said when all eyes turned to him. Crap, Sam and Mr. Schue weren't there yet.

There's no escaping now. He wheeled beside Kitty who was talking to the little Jewish boy who wasn't gay, but worshiped Beyonce. Well, who could blame him? Everyone worshiped Beyonce. At least, he knew how to mimic the Queen.

They were talking about Macklemore and Iggy Azalea and mayonnaise.

"Speaking of mayonnaise," Kitty started, finally looking at Artie. "Hey Artie, it's 2015. You already graduated."

"Hey Kitty!" Artie said, waving his hand awkwardly. "I'm just here to help," he explained. When he noticed Kitty wasn't buying it, he added, "And I have this film project involving my high school life."

Kitty seemed to believe that. "Keep your camera away from me."

Artie was about to make a joke when he realized she was dead-serious. He always seemed to forget Kitty was harshly abused.

His stomach sank. He felt really guilty. "I will," he said.

"As I was saying," she continued, looking back at the kid. "Iggy Azalea is a respectable rapper."

"For the last time, Kitty, talking really fast doesn't equivalate to rapping. She's white trash!" replied the kid.

Kitty just stared at him. Artie could tell from behind without looking at them that whenever Kitty paused it's to glare at you.

"Equivalate isn't a word, Myron," she said.

Myron's face dropped. "Sure, it is." His voice seemed to fall.

He sounded like he was really worried about his vocabulary.

"It's not," Kitty said, showing Myron her dictionary app.

As much as Artie would love to eavesdrop on their heated debate about Iggy Azalea being a legitimate rapper to vocabulary, he was starting to get really impatient. Where the hell were Sam and Mr. Schue?

Should he begin filming? What would he film? Kitty said she refused to be filmed. He couldn't possibly be filming the other people here. He didn't know them well enough.

Finally, Sam entered the room. "Good afternoon everyone! Today is Week 4 for Regionals rehearsals!" He nodded at them all. He was really natural at this teaching stuff, Artie thought.

He opened his camera and started filming Sam.

"Okay, so if everyone could - Artie?" Sam started when he saw him. He started looking pissed.

Artie closed his camera and stopped filming Sam.

How could Sam miss him? His chair had huge wheels.

"Where the hell have you been?" Artie replied, failing to hide his tough time alone with the new kids.

"We were waiting for you in the faculty room," Sam explained.

"You're allowed in there?" Artie asked, surprised.

"Of course, I am! I'm Coach Sheldon's assistant, remember? And well, Mr. Schue's too," Sam said. "You're allowed there too," he explained, looking at him. "Mr. Schue and I were supposed to give you a _grand _entrance."

Artie cringed. "Is that really necessary?" Thank God he didn't meet them in the faculty room then. "Where's Mr. Schue?"

Mr. Schue entered the room. "Artie!" he greeted. "Great, you're here! Everyone, you remember Artie Abrams?"

Everyone nodded, except Kitty.

Artie felt really embarrassed with how all the attention turned towards him.

"Say hello, Artie!" Mr. Schue added, unable to recognize how awkward Artie felt.

"And don't sit with them – stand, I mean, wheel near us, you're a mentor now," added Sam.

Artie awkwardly wheeled toward the center beside the two. "Hey everyone," he started. He saw Kitty roll her eyes. "I'm just here to film you guys for my project involving high school life, particularly Glee Club."

It felt pathetic, so he added, "And I'd like to congratulate you all for winning Sectionals. All of you really deserved it! Rachel sent me a video of it, and it was really great – especially the swinging and the dancing, although it was hard to tell because the camera was really shaky and out of focus -"

Crap, he had been talking too much.

"So, yeah," he finished awkwardly. "I can't wait to spend time with you guys."

It was a lie, of course. He wanted to spend time with Tina and the others, but they weren't there yet.

"Now, Artie here -" Mr. Schue started, "he's one of our strongest vocalists."

Artie wanted to laugh at that. Why were most of the solos given to Rachel or Blaine then?

"Also, our strongest wheelers," Sam found it important to add.

"If you don't believe me," Mr. Schue continued. He placed his hand on Artie's shoulder.

Artie's heart dropped._ Man, get your hand off me. I know what you're thinking, and no way in hell am I singing right now,_ Artie thought.

"Why don't you show them, Artie?"

_Hell no_, Artie thought, over and over.

"Sure, Mr. Schue," he replied.

_Told me not to cry when you were gone  
But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong_

_Can I laaaaay by your siiiiiiiide?_

He heard applause. It felt like it's one of his strongest vocals to date.

_This is good,_ he thought to himself. _And to think you were about to say no._

He really wasn't planning to say no.

_Next to youuuu, youuuuu  
And maaaaaake suuuuuure youuuuu're alriiiiiight  
I'll take care of youuuuu  
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight_

The new kids seemed really nice, because all of them seemed to really be in awe of Artie's voice.

A slightly more dramatic version of his love for Tina was on his mind when he was singing. He was glad he pulled it off, but it was a bit uncomfortable to put himself into that kind of feeling. It overwhelmed him, how Tina can make him feel like that.

Still, the performance would look great in camera for his project. After all, no one in film school knew he could sing so well.

"Crap," he said, taking the camera out from his bag, giving it to Sam. "Can you film me singing?"

Everyone but Sam seemed to be taken aback. "Okay, sure thing, dude," Sam said happily.

"It's for the project," Artie explained when the new kids were giving him funny looks.

It's weird, he felt like he was Rachel Berry.

Now with that mental note, Artie reminded himself to never look at Sam while singing.

Well, it's also bad to look directly at the camera.

_I'm reaching out to you  
Can you hear my call?  
This hurt that I've been through  
I'm missing you, missing you like crazy_

_Can I laaaaay by your siiiiiiiide?  
Next to youuuu, youuuuu  
And maaaaaake suuuuuure youuuuu're alriiiiiight  
I'll take care of youuuuu  
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight_

"Thank you," Artie said before wheeling toward Sam and Mr. Schue.

No one applauded that time. They looked pretty eager to start practice. Artie was just eager to be the camera man again.

"You were great, man," Sam assured Artie, before giving him his camera back – with the cap still on.

Artie sighed.

Maybe he could sing something with Mercedes next week and have Rachel film it. Shakiness won't be a problem because the video is supposed to look amateurish anyway.

"Everyone," Sam started. They really listened to him. "Please move all the chairs to the side so we can start rehearsing."

Artie took the cap from his camera off. He began to film them.

He wondered if this was what they always looked like in an outsider's perspective – messy, all-over the place, but together.

The new glee club didn't look like a bunch of misfits anymore though. Of course, Artie was just judging by an outsider's perspective. Maybe they were misfits on the inside too. Even so, he was still part of this club.

He just wished he felt that way without having to depend on the old members to be there with him.

Cool Kids started playing, and he tried his best to avoid Kitty in the frame shot.

_She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style.  
And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind._

So far so good, Kitty's just swaying in the back.

_Nothing in this world could ever bring them down.  
Yeah, they're invincible, and she's just in the background.  
And she says,_

_"I wish that I could be like the cool kids,  
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.  
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids."_

It was getting pretty hard, since Kitty was moving toward the center now.

_He sees them talking with a big smile,  
_

_Crap_, Artie thought. She was singing the lead so he tried to shut his camera off as fast as possible.

_but they ha –_

Kitty saw him filming her. He swore it was just for a split second, but that seemed to throw Kitty off from the choreography, or what seemed like choreography.

The rest had to stop performing.

"I'm sorry," Kitty told the others. "I forgot the lyrics –"

"Really?" said Myron. "We've been practicing this even before _Sectionals_."

"I'm sure we're going to do better next time," Kitty said, glaring at the little dude. "It's the second song I'm worried about."

"We don't have a second song yet," Mr. Schue explained.

"Exactly," she replied. "Now is the right time. We don't have much time anyway."

Mr. Schue sighed but agreed. "Any suggestions?"

All of them were looking at each other, waiting for someone to speak up. All of them were painfully shy. It was really painful to record.

"Artie, do you have any suggestions?" Mr. Schue asked.

_Please don't drag me in this,_ Artie thought. _I just want to make my documentary in peace. _Although, he actually did have a song in mind.

"I don't," he said. He couldn't avoid Kitty's eyes, glaring at him, judging him. "H-how about you, Kitty?" he asked nervously. He was trying to make peace.

Kitty seemed pleased, like she was expecting that. "I actually do."

Artie didn't bother filming anymore. He'd worry about that next week. At least then, he'd had Tina with him. Also, there would be more people to film.

All he had to worry about now was making peace with Kitty.

X

The faculty room seemed smaller than what Artie had imagined it to be. He still felt like it was necessary to greet the teachers with respect.

"Oh, Arthur!" greeted a woman with grey hair entering the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Mrs. Banks," said Artie, beaming at the old lady. "I was just –"

"Hello, Gina," Sam called Mrs. Banks. "I see you've met Artie."

Mr. Schue looked embarrassed for him.

Mrs. Banks didn't seem to find it funny. "Yes, Sam," she replied sharply. "He was my best student in Geometry. You on the other hand were –"

"Nice talking to you, Gina. Good bye now," said Sam, cutting Mrs. Banks off, before sharing a table with Artie along with Mr. Schue. "So," he started, staring excitedly at Artie.

"What?" Artie replied with no enthusiasm.

"This is great, right?" asked Sam. "We're a trio this week – you, me, and Mr. Schue - Will! We're going to work our butts off to make the new Glee kids great at Regionals."

Artie nodded along. He tried to swallow a bite of his muffin as slowly as possible. He didn't want to upset Sam who seemed very excited to finally take control.

"This is so great!" Sam continued, oblivious to the other two who didn't share the same amusement. "I mean, don't get me wrong – I'm excited about Rachel, Kurt, and all the others coming back next week, but this week is ours!"

Artie wished he wasn't included in this. It's not that Artie didn't like Sam, it's just they tend to have contradicting opinions on everything. Plus, no one would really listen to Artie. It would be exhausting to be in a choir room like that every day.

"Sam," Artie started.

Sam was all ears, wildly smiling at him with direct contact.

Artie felt his stomach churn – it'd be like dumping a sad and ugly girl. "I think I'll be in my house this week," he explained. "I better start working on my project."

"I thought the glee club was your project?"

Will you just let it go, man? Artie wanted to say. "Another project," he lied instead.

"Okay," Sam replied. For a second, he looked really disappointed. Then, he was smiling creepily again. "Oh," he said. "Don't worry, I get it."

"I hope you understand," Artie said, not looking at his friend. "It's just awkward for –"

"You're getting ready for your fiancé's arrival, aren't you?"

Artie's eyes widened in surprise, "What?"

"A little birdie told me you're getting hitched," Sam replied.

"What?" said Mr. Schue surprised. He then turned to Artie, "Artie, that's great!"

Artie shook his head. This was a very embarrassing visit. "I'm not," he said.

"What do you mean you're not?" said Sam. "Rachel told me you proposed to –"

"I was messing around with Rachel."

Sam frowned. "That's not very nice. She was genuinely excited for you – well, confused, but happy."

"She misunderstood. It was just a pact, it wasn't an actual proposal," Artie explained.

"With who?" Mr. Schue asked.

"Tina," Artie said.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Artie knew it was real – the proposal. He just didn't want to look stupid again if Tina dated someone new. His happiness just took load of him when he told Rachel.

Now, after months of thinking about it, it may not be that big of a deal for Tina.

They talked for hours on the phone every week – nothing changed. At least, she hadn't said anything about dating someone. Everything was oddly too similar than before. None of them seemed to bring up the proposal. It was weird at first, but Artie thought it would be better if he wouldn't think about it too much.

All he knew was that Tina loved him, and he was _in_ love with her. This time, he was going to prove it.

After all, they always made sense.

"So," Sam started when everyone was silent again. "What's your other project about?"

Artie sighed. There was no escaping Sam's Trio this week.

* * *

**This chapter was sort of lonely to write because there wasn't any Tina and Artie interaction, but the next one will be full of it - I swear. Reviews are also greatly appreciated.**


	4. 3 Love Me Harder

**This is probably my favorite chapter that I've ever written in history. Heads up, it's pretty long.**

**A/N: It's April 28 here so Happy birthday to real life Tike, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Ushkowitz (Thank you for not shipping your characters together - I'm kidding.). They are lovely people.**

* * *

Project "Make Amends with Kitty" didn't go so well for Artie. Well, solely because he never bothered trying. He would just enter the choir room, say things like, "Sam, that's a great idea," "What an amazing performance," "Mr. Schue's right!" and leave right when the bell rang.

Sam didn't seem to notice Artie's unwillingness. He was too into teaching. So Artie focused his filming on him and Mr. Schue.

The weekend came; Artie thanked Jesus because it seemed like a really long week. He stayed in his old house, because he missed being pampered by his parents. Of course, they wouldn't bother him in any way; he thought he'd be busy the entire weekend editing what he had filmed, but that only took him thirty minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Weekend now meant two days of Netflix.

Sam called him on Saturday night, asking him if he'd want to accompany him in welcoming Mercedes the next day.

Tina wasn't coming until Monday with the others so he didn't bother with anyone else. Plus, he got to see Sam every weekday. Give him a Sam-less Weekend, please.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt seemed like a very interesting Netflix series.

"Sam," Artie started very slowly, "it's something you have to do alone, and you know that, right?"

"No," Sam said, very confused. "I'm with Rachel now - remember?" No, Artie surprisingly did not remember. He also didn't care about high school drama – well, for now; Monday would be interesting.

"Exactly," Artie replied, making everything up as he talked. "You're with Rachel now. That means there should be no reason for you and Mercedes to be awkward around each other… unless you still have feelings for each other. You don't, right?"

Sam thought about it, "No, we don't. We're friends!" Maybe Artie was right. "Was that what happened to you and Tina?"

That's a whole different story.

"Didn't you guys used to date?" Sam recalled. "I wasn't there then, but you avoided her so much during Sophomore year. I thought you were just racist."

"What?" Artie asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but then you started singing rap songs and you were really close with Mercedes so I figured you must just hate Asians."

Sometimes Artie wished Sam stopped talking as much as he stopped thinking.

"But," Sam continued, "then you were moping about Tina and Mike so I figured... But I can't imagine you and Tina ever dating, to be honest. You seem like really _really_ close friends – brother and sister even. You must be really over each other –"

"Okay!" Artie snapped.

_Sam, I love you dude, but you should shut up. All you say is crap,_ Artie thought. He was already strangling him in his mind.

"I've got a date today, so you're on your own with that Mercedes problem. Bye, Sam!" he continued, faking enthusiasm very poorly.

"Really?" Sam replied, unable to read Artie's tone. "With who?"

"Kimmy Schmidt," Artie replied lamely. He knew Sam was going to say something else, but he cut him off.

Was that true though? Everything that Sam said – was that true? Was Artie and Tina's relationship sibling-like? If so, which one of them was adopted?

Should he be happy that he hid his feelings for her so well that everyone seemed to have forgotten about it? Everyone viewed them as brother and sister, impossible for romance? Would dating her seem so ludicrous that it would relate to incest?

Should he be happy that he hid his feelings for her so well that even she might have had forgotten about them?

Of course, he tried to forget about her. Brittany was a ditz, but was she hot. Of course, he was upset when he found out she was a lesbian – okay, bisexual. It was much worse when he realized she really loved Santana. He tried fighting for her – something he never did for Tina, but it was hopeless to fight for someone who clearly liked someone else. He thought it might be different with Brittany. It wasn't, but it hurt less the second time.

There was Sugar, Betty, Kitty, Vanessa and a lot of different girls. No one compared to Tina. Of course, the fact that he had a string of girls could turn anyone off. Tina would've had called him out on it. She always called him out when he was wrong.

_God_, was she good for him.

Still, who cared about Sam's comment? Like Artie said, he had a date with an amazing girl today, an Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

He lied down his bed and watched.

He was pretty into it the moment he pressed play. It was dry and witty, and a pretty good distraction to... um, whatever he wanted to be distracted from – you see? The show's one of the best distractions yet!

He only had to pause for bathroom breaks and meal breaks.

His mom caught him when he was heading back to his room. She asked him to do chores with her. That delayed his Netflix binge-watching too.

She'd ask him awkward questions like "How's film school?" or "How's New York?" Okay, maybe they weren't exactly awkward, but he felt like stopping himself from screaming he had STD.

A lot of things took his mind off the show, but it was always in the back of his mind.

It was Sunday dawn when he had finished the series. It was a great series, he thought. The coloring needed a few work – it was gloomy for a comedy show, but he let it pass. It was somewhere in 6am. He congratulated himself for messing up his sleeping schedule before he went to sleep.

He dreamt Tina was in his room, thinking she'd successfully stolen his Captain America action figure, but he really just handed it to her. Suddenly, his mom came in – she started scolding Tina. "Ladies do not steal their brother's toys, Tina." Brother? Wait up. Mr. Cohen-Chang stormed inside the room. "It's time to eat. I love my family so much." Artie's mother started to kiss him in the lips. Tina and Artie made grossed out expressions. "What's for dinner, dad?" Artie asked. "Gummy worms," his mother replied happily. "Artie," Tina said again.

"Artie," a sexy voice called out. He didn't know if he should be turned on or not.

It sounded like Tina's voice though.

He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his bed frame.

"Oh no," he screamed, shaking. _How could his parents adopt her?_

"Artie," Tina said again. "Are you awake?"

Artie turned around. He was surprised to see Tina. He was happy, also confused, and lastly conscious. He immediately turned to his crotch. _Please don't have a boner._

Thank _you_.

"Tina?" he said, still feeling hazy. "We aren't related, right?"

"No," Tina answered slowly. She wondered what he was talking about, but figured to just go with it. "Artie, it's 2pm, why are you still asleep?"

"Kimmy," he explained. He started stretching.

_Kimmy?_ Tina thought. _Who the hell is Kimmy? Was it one of the kids in New Directions?_

_Did he mean Kitty? _She wasn't sure why that thought pissed her off.

As Artie started moaning from all the stretching, Tina wanted to turn the volume down. It was strangely sexy. She had to close her eyes – _think of innocent things like unicorns and things that do not involve phallic symbols_, she said to herself.

When he was done stretching, Tina sighed in relief.

Artie looked at his phone. He blinked three times, and looked at the phone again before finally looking at Tina.

"Hey Tina," he said, finally smiling and regaining consciousness in the real world. "What are you doing here? Crap, did I sleep for two days?"

Tina laughed. "No," she replied. She wished Artie's sleepy voice stayed with him. Sleepy voices were always sexy.

"Oh, so it's Sunday," Artie said, still regaining himself back to reality. "It's Sunday and you're here," he sounded really happy and pleased.

"I wanted to surprise you," she said, hugging him. "I'm sorry I woke you up. Your mom told me to."

"You needed to," Artie said. He didn't want the hug to end, but he smelled. "I need to take a shower," he said, before propping himself up until he moved onto his wheelchair.

"'Kay," Tina said as Artie wheeled outside.

She opened his PlayStation 3 and played Catherine.

After finishing Part 2 of the game, Artie wheeled back, already dressed up.

Tina looked at him. "Why are you all dressed up? Where are you going?"

"I thought we were going out," he explained. He realized Tina didn't really look like she was planning on going outside.

Tina shook her head. "I don't know about you," she started, "but I just want to stay here and be lazy with my best friend."

"Mercedes isn't here," Artie explained with a mischievous look on his face.

Tina smirked. "I was talking about you."

Artie smiled. He knew. "Now I have to change again."

She nodded before a puzzle game in Catherine started loading.

"Tina," Artie started.

She was absent-mindedly nodding along; she was really into the game.

"I meant change _here,_" he said.

"Oh," Tina said, pausing the game and releasing the joystick. She closed her eyes and covered them with both her hands. "Don't mind me... your _lady_ friend," she added teasingly.

Artie chuckled before wheeling toward his drawer. He took random clothes before he began to change in the corner.

It took a long time for him to change so she had the initiative to take a peak.

Nice.

She put her hands back over her eyes when Artie turned to face her. "You can look now," he said as she did. They wore the same Senior shirt.

Well, Tina and Artie were the only ones who had it.

It read: Valedictorian 2.0. Class 2013. They did it behind Blaine's back. It was already printed when they changed their minds, realizing it was very lame. They kept it and never showed it to anyone else.

"I thought you weren't arriving until tomorrow?" Artie said, getting another joystick. He changed the game to something for two players – Little Big Planet.

"I'm an extra day early because I couldn't wait to see you," she said.

Artie hoped to God Tina wouldn't turn to look at him because he was blushing like hell. "Hurry up and pick Player 1, woman," he said.

"Fine," she said. It used to annoy her, but she had realized along the years that it was never really used in a derogatory manner.

They started absent-mindedly playing.

"So," Artie started when the silence was starting to feel empty. "What's up?"

"Oh my god, Artie!" Tina screamed out of nowhere. "I'm so happy to see you - you just need to help me." It amazed Artie how she can make him sound like her very own oasis, refuge of all things bad… and he hoped he would never think of crap like that again.

"As always" he said, waiting for her to continue.

She went on very quickly, "I am done with calculus. I am done with chemistry. I am done with history. Hell, I'm even done with English and that's what I'm using right now." She was pressing the buttons of the joystick really hard while ranting.

Artie was worried she could damage it.

"Tomorrow, I am going to sing," she stated very proudly, "because you know, I don't get to do that in Brown - because people think you're crazy in Brown when you sing out loud – well, I didn't get to do that too much in McKinley either - but you are going to sing with me! You have to!"

Artie stopped the game. "What?" He was _done_ with singing. He just wanted to film the glee club. In fact, he thought it would be great if he could film Tina right now. Not that she looked like the golden moon with her hair effortlessly swaying behind her like a dark and beautiful waterfall at night, or anything.

Her emotions really captured the dependency each of the alumni had felt after graduating and being away from glee club, Artie thought – or something like that.

"Woman, I had the worst week in McKinley because I _kept_ on singing. Don't make me do it again," he argued.

Not true though. After that incident where he had to sing Lay Me Down two times in a row, he kept his mouth shut.

Tina looked at him with disbelief. "You said you only sang Lay Me Down."

Oh, right. He just _had_ to tell her everything that was happening in his life.

"Twice," he argued. "I had to sing it twice in a _row_."

"Artie, I had the worst_ semester_," she argued back.

"You say that _every_ semester," he reminded her.

"It just proves my life in Brown gets tougher and tougher," she explained. "Plus, you still need footage on your singing."

He told her about that too. He's actually glad he did. He's forgotten about that, actually. He was so caught up in being invisible in glee club last week; tomorrow will actually be fun with everyone around again.

"Please," Tina pressed on. "I'll let you direct my every move, Mr. _Director_."

It sounded all so tempting.

How could he resist her?

He sighed. "When are we singing?"

"Tomorrow," she answered very quickly.

"What?" Artie said, surprised that everything's so sudden.

"We're the first one so none of them can escape," she explained with great determination in her voice.

"Wasn't Rachel supposed to be the first –"

"Ugh," Tina groaned.

She was _sick_ of it. Out of all the people who let Rachel get her way, she couldn't believe _Artie_ of all people would be one of them.

She remembered Mike's words, "_Rachel's one of a kind, Rachel's a star_." She couldn't believe she even thanked him for being _shafted _again.

"Why?" she continued. Her voice was very sharp. She was obviously very pissed. "Is it because she's the star of glee club even if she already _graduated_?" Well, given, _she_ had graduated too. "I'm sick of it being _all_ about Rachel, Artie. Out of all the people, _you_ should know that!"

"No," Artie replied, surprised at Tina's outburst. He remained composed for the both of them. "She literally said she's getting the first song when we're all back together," he explained very cautiously.

"Oh," Tina said.

Right, Rachel did mention that in the Facebook Group: New Directions Take On New Directions - it was something Blaine made for the alumni when Kurt graduated. It was a really cringe-worthy pun.

"But," Artie continued when he noticed the frown on Tina's face. "We _can_ do something about that."

Tina smiled. "That's why I love you, Artie."

The smile seemed to warm Artie's heart. He couldn't help but blush. Every time he looked at her looking at him like he is the most reliable person in the world, it makes him feel like flying.

"It's no problem," he tried to say it as casually as possible.

"You're always there for me..." Tina continued on.

Something about her expression looked weird.

_Was she starting to cry?_ "...even at my worst."

"Where is all this drama coming from?" Artie joked, but he was starting to worry.

"I just forgot how understanding you were," Tina explained as she hurriedly wiped the tears off her eyes. "You know how I never got to be a star," she continued. "After all we've been through, you're still there to help me," she continued before she started bawling even more.

Artie was surprised at Tina's sudden emotions. Well, she did cry a lot while she was dating Mike – happy crying, Artie reminded himself. Still, it was overwhelming to see her cry _now_.

"I'm so happy to have someone like you," she managed to say despite her tears. "You're such a good friend."

His stomach churned when he heard those words. It's beautiful, but it's limited. He tried to not let it bother him as he wiped tears from his friend's eyes.

He hugged her. "I'm always here for you, Tina."

"I know," Tina replied. "And I'm here for you too."

He nodded.

"I just miss singing," she explained when she started to feel embarrassed about what had just happened.

"Me too," he said when she finally calmed down. "What are we going to sing?"

Tina inhaled and exhaled until her voice sounded normal again. "Well," she smiled.

He already gave in. Why is she still drawing him closer with a face like that?

She plugged her iPod on Artie's speakers.

_Tell me something I need to know  
Then take my breath and never let it go_

_Nice choice,_ Artie thought. Tina could totally pull a sweeter version of Ariana Grande.

_If you just let me invade your space  
I'll take the pleasure, take it with the pain_

She began to film her.

_And if in the moment I bite my lip  
Baby, in that moment you'll know this is  
Something bigger than us and beyond bliss  
Give me a reason to believe it_

Artie didn't believe Tina at first, but he actually had to block the door so others won't leave the choir room while she started singing. Also, he thought he had to block Rachel from coming in, but she managed.

Fortunately, Rachel didn't stop Tina from singing. Everyone else looked pissed and confused though – probably because they were forced to enter and sit so abruptly. Except Mercedes who looked totally supportive.

_'Cause if you want to keep me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder  
And if you really need me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder_

It was really wise for Tina to suggest this song for Regionals too. Everyone seemed to have warmed up from the shock. Artie felt really happy that they seemed to be enjoying Tina's performance. They began to sing and dance along.

_Baby, love me harder  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Love me, love me, love me,  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Harder, harder, harder_

Now, it's his turn.

_I know your motives and you know mine  
The ones that love me, I tend to leave behind_

They sound genuinely surprised that Artie was in it. Like, anyone else could pull of The Weeknd's vocals.

_If you know about me and choose to stay  
Then take this pleasure and take it with the pain_

Artie looked at Mercedes. She was filming it brilliantly, thankfully. And by brilliantly, Artie meant the cap wasn't off. He was so glad he got to finally have a duet with Tina on camera.

_'Cause if you want to keep me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder (I'm a love you harder)  
And if you really need me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder (love me harder)  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Love me, love me, love me,  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Harder, harder, harder,  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Love me, love me, love me,  
Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,  
Harder, harder, harder_

Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, but confused about enjoying it at the same time.

_Come on, guys, why are you against Tina getting a solo?_ Artie thought. Of course, it was pretty hostile.

_So what do I do if I can't figure it out? (figure it out)  
You got to try, try, try again, yeah.  
So what do I do if I can't figure it out? (figure it out)  
I'm gonna leave, leave, leave again_

Tina really slayed this song, Artie thought. He tried his best to ignore everyone else's faces. Why did Tina seem oblivious to them?

_'Cause if you want to keep me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder (I'm a love you, love you, love you)_  
_And if you really need me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder (love me, love me, baby)_  
_Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,_  
_Love me, love me, love me_  
_(Just a little bit, harder, harder, baby)_  
_Ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh,_  
_Harder, harder, harder._

Everyone clapped their hands.

"And that's why we think you guys should sing that for Regionals," Tina said in a very academic-like tone. "It would really enhance all of your vocals. It's really out there and now."

"We already have a second song," Kitty said.

"Oh," Tina said. "Oh well," she really didn't care that much.

Artie wheeled toward Mercedes to retrieve his video camera. Then he sat beside Quinn whose head was rested on Puck's shoulder. She looked at him with both concern and amusement.

As Tina sat beside Mercedes and Blaine, Rachel stood up.

"I, too, had planned a welcoming song for all the alumni and glee kids," Rachel started. "It originally was supposed to be the first song you heard this week, but never the mind," she said when she obviously _did_ mind. "Unlike the first song, I believe _this_ song from Starlight Express would relate to _all_ of you – like a refuge from the exhausting rehearsals for Regionals and the busy schedules of college. And life in general."

Someone who wasn't Brad started playing the piano and it was obviously another Broadway song.

_One Rock 'n' Roll too many,  
One night's sleep too few.  
Too much ringing that bell  
Takes its toll out of you._

Sometimes Artie just tuned out altogether when she started singing. She loved Rachel, but it was boring. It was a nice opportunity to film the others who were listening though.

Quinn was still looking at him.

He smiled. They had really gotten close after her accident and all. Now, _she_ was who he treated as like a sister - a really hot one though. "So," he started. "Weren't we great?"

"Well," Quinn started in a whisper so Puck won't hear. "You know how you've done pretty well hiding the fact that you're still in love with her?"

Artie panicked, looked around in case anyone had heard, and then nodded at Quinn.

"It seemed like you were doing poorly all along, because she knows," she answered. She saw Artie frozen in shock. "Good news or bad news?" she asked along.

Artie gulped. "G-good news," he answered.

"Well, it seems like she's giving you another chance," Quinn replied.

He wondered how she could tell. His heart began beating rapidly in his chest, he could feel it – he could even hear it even as Rachel belted a high note. He pressed on, "Bad news?"

Quinn eyed the video before replying. "Please watch your performance, Artie. I really want you to be together with her," she said.

Artie smiled.

"Team Artina," said Quinn in a very faint but cheerful whisper.

The two of them were laughing.

_Tartie,_ Artie wanted to correct, but now wasn't the time. "What's the bad news?"

"It's obvious. Everyone knows."

* * *

**I wanted to expand this chapter some more, but I figured it would be better in the next chapter. I really like the idea of a Quinn and Artie friendship - I WILL FIGHT FOR IT AS CANON UNTIL THE VERY END. Hope you guys liked it and review! 3**


	5. 4 Foreground

**A/N: This is the first chapter that doesn't have a song title for its name.**

* * *

Foreground: _verb_

**1**. make (something) the most prominent or important feature.

* * *

The performance went better than what Tina expected.

Of course they were shocked when they found Tina and Artie already inside the choir room waiting for them with smiling faces – the kind of smile that Norman Bates from Psycho gives you before becoming his mother and killing you in the motel shower.

They practically forced everyone to take a seat and watch them sing.

Tina figured they would understand, and they did – sort of, but as Rachel was singing another boring Broadway song, everything seemed _off_.

Usually when someone started singing, Tina just blended with the crowd, watching the performer. Why did it feel like some of the attention were still on her?

She shifted her gaze towards the others. Most of them just looked away – except for Kitty who was still visibly glaring at her.

Were they _that_ mad that she forced them to hear her sing? She figured they'd be used to her by now. She had always been pushed aside before. Why couldn't they give her a break?

"I'm sorry, okay?" she whispered angrily at Mercedes.

Mercedes seemed surprised at her friend's outburst. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry I forced you guys to hear me sing," she replied. "I thought you'd understand – I always wanted to do that, be the star, you know? Brown was hard, even in performing arts subjects, they were very strict and proper and -"

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Sure, Tina," she said. Half of them expected something like that along these years anyway. That wasn't the reason they were staring at her. "I think Rachel's the one you need to apologize to."

She was joking, but Tina took it seriously.

The glee kids didn't have enough time; the moment Rachel finished singing, they got up and headed to the auditorium. She seemed hurt they'd ignored her talents.

The alumni clapped for Rachel and she started beaming again. "Let us move to the auditorium," she said.

Tina stood up first and hurried to apologize. "Rachel," she called.

Rachel turned to face her. "Hello Tina," she greeted. "Nice performance."

"So you're not mad?" Tina replied, confused. If Rachel was being fake, she'd see right through her.

"Well, Artie _did_ try to block me from entering the choir room," she replied, "And I _did_ post on our Facebook group saying I would be singing_ first_, but what's done is done - a star should shine no matter when she performs." Rachel meant every word. Suddenly, her expression turned softer. "You and Artie sound really great together."

Why was Rachel staring at Tina weirdly?

"Okay…" Tina said before leaving to walk with Artie instead.

Artie was fiddling with his video camera while Mercedes was pushing his wheelchair. He made a jolt when he saw Tina walking up to him.

"Hey," Tina said, choosing to ignore Artie being weird. "We did great," she said. She leaned in and hugged him. She squeezed tighter. She liked the feeling of Artie rubbing her back.

Artie was shaking. He could feel his heart beating rapidly. It made him wonder if that was the reason for her pulling away. Why was he nervous all of a sudden? They were doing just fine.

Why didn't she just tell him straight? Artie thought.

Tina took over Mercedes in pushing Artie's wheelchair. They weren't really talking. Tina had no idea why.

Artie opened his camera the moment they entered the auditorium. They could already see the glee kids preparing.

"What are they singing?" Tina asked him.

"Cool Kids," Artie replied – his voice tense.

Tina tried to ignore that. She wanted to sit down before she could ask him what the hell was going on. "Just one song?" she asked.

Artie shook his head. "Three," he replied. He wasn't looking at Tina. His eyes were focused on the video camera recording the auditorium's scenery.

Tina was getting really bored with the conversation, but she continued. "What are the other two?"

"Cool… Kids…" Artie said.

She was expecting a pun, but he said nothing else. _Okay, whatever,_ she thought. It didn't matter anyway. She parked Artie's wheelchair beside her before sitting.

"Artie," she started. "What the hell is –"

"Actually, Tina," Artie interrupted. "I want to stay over there." He pointed at the other aisle – ten chairs from her.

"Oh, okay," she replied. "I'm going to miss you," she said – come on, she was always sweet to him. How would that be weird?

"Yeah, okay," Artie said, before signaling Puck to help him move.

Puck mouthed something to Tina. She couldn't read his expression; it looked like he had a bad burrito. He was asking if Artina was back.

The lights went out. The spotlights turned on. The music started playing. It's Cool Kids by Echosmith.

Tina was really starting to get bored.

She was beside Mercedes, who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Kurt. She heard it had something to do with Sam and Rachel. Tina didn't really want to eavesdrop, but she had no one else to talk to.

She actually hated sitting at the side beside aisles, Artie was the only reason why she sat there.

The glee kids were good, but it didn't really matter.

Tina looked at Artie who was parked closer toward the stage.

She giggled. Why wasn't he facing the stage? He had his video camera facing them – the audience.

Artie caught her staring. He recorded further toward the left – to Rachel and Mr. Schue.

Did he seriously avoid filming her?

_What was wrong with him?_ Tina thought.

_Why does he seem like he's mad at me?_

Tina couldn't take it anymore. "Hey Mercedes," she started, her voice sounded angrier than what she meant.

Mercedes turned to her and whispered, "What's up?"

"What do you think is wrong with Artie lately?" she asked. "I mean he seems weird after we sang. Was he embarrassed to be singing with me?"

Tina didn't see it, but Mercedes rolled her eyes.

Now Mercedes was facing her. "Tina – seriously, girl?" she started. "Are you really sure you have no idea?"

"I just told you what my idea was. He's embarrassed to be singing with me," she stated. She started to feel really down about it.

"Tina," Mercedes started again. This time she was looking straight at Tina so she can read her expression clearly. She was sure Tina was going to understand it this time. "Artie loves you, right?"

Tina nodded. "Yeah, and I love him too."

"Then why did you have to embarrass him like that, girl?"

"What?" Tina replied. "You just said that wasn't the reason. I thought our performance was okay."

"Well, I know that it's _Artie_," Mercedes continued, ignoring Tina's train of thought.

_Wait, what's wrong with Artie?_ _Artie sounded great. If anyone ruined the performance, it was me, _Tina contemplated.

Mercedes continued, "And it's hard dating him – you've said it before when you've broken up - but singing about _how_ you're giving him another chance in front of the whole glee club wasn't a good idea."

"What?" Tina said. "Giving him another chance?"

She wasn't giving Artie another chance. Artie didn't want another chance. He was happy with how things were.

What gave Mercedes that idea?

"Wasn't that what Love Me Harder was about?" Mercedes went on.

Tina shook her head. "Our performance was about the sake of performing. I miss singing with you guys, Mercedes." She went on again about the whole Brown situation. "You know how it is in Brown. I mean, the academic stress is really pressuring me and the environment is very serious. Even the performing arts is very serious. There's no fun at all. My roommate used to threaten to shave my eyebrow if I –"

"If you sang, right," Mercedes finished for her.

"Oh, I've told you this story?"

"No," said Mercedes. "Artie told me. He talked about you a lot every time I visited him in New York."

Mercedes was clearly implying something that Tina hasn't really thought about.

"Well, of course," Tina said. Now her voice started to tense. "We're best friends. I talk about him with my Brown friends too."

"Do you talk about _us_ just as much as you talk about Artie?" Mercedes questioned.

No.

"Yes, of course," Tina lied. "All the time, I can't shut up about you guys."

She was starting to sweat.

_All the time,_ why did she feel the need to say that? The only moment she talked about Mercedes was when her Brown friend asked her about cars.

What is she feeling? Why did she need to lie about talking about them? Artie is her closest friend. Sure, she loved Mercedes, but obviously they haven't caught up with each other as much as she caught up with Artie.

What does this have to do with anything?

"I don't see your point," Tina continued. Well, she sort of did, but she didn't want to admit it yet.

She loved Mike, she reminded herself.

She tried to find Mike a midst the dark crowd. Was that him beside Rachel? Why couldn't she feel anything?

Mike caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back.

Nothing.

It had been nothing for a very long time. She was just used to pretending there was still something between them. The spark was long dead.

"I don't think you realize it," Mercedes said. "I don't want to assume what's best for my friends – I've done that before – didn't end well. Finn punched Puck and kicked Quinn out of his house. You were there, right? Wow, that was _five_ years ago?"

"Mercedes, you're missing the point!" Tina pressed on, but at the same time, she didn't really want to hear about her relationship with Artie again - from Mercedes. "What don't I realize?"

Mercedes smiled at her, and then looked at Artie who was still filming them. "Remember how you were always pushed in the background?"

"Do I ever?" Tina replied sarcastically. "It happened for like, four years - no big deal."

"Well, you weren't complaining before," Mercedes said.

"I was shy," Tina explained. "I had a stutter." She didn't see where this was going, but she continued.

"You didn't notice you loved the spotlight before," Mercedes replied. "It was after True Colors when you started stepping out of your comfort zone. All of us noticed."

_You didn't notice it enough to give me more solos,_ Tina thought. She didn't know where this was going, but she listened.

"Artie suggested to Mr. Schue that he give you that part – only if you wanted it. You weren't there."

Was that the meeting after she admitted to Artie she faked her stutter?

She remembered that day. She was so scared she lost him. She was scared she lost them. She was scared they'd label her as fake or something. God - was she paranoid back then.

No one asked her what happened – she assumed they knew but didn't care enough. Suddenly, Mr. Schue asked her if she wanted a solo. "You'd be great," Artie said, out of nowhere. Turned out he didn't tell anyone. He figured it was her own business, but he would be there for her as a friend.

She took the song. And it _was_ great. It _felt_ great. Still, where the hell was this going?

"What's your point?" Tina asked, but she was smiling at the memory now.

"We were used to you guys in the background, supporting each other – but now it's pretty obvious," Mercedes said.

"What's obvious?" Tina asked, even if she didn't have to.

"I don't want to assume, okay?" Mercedes continued. "But damn, girl – it's _so_ obvious."

"It_ is_ obvious," Kurt chimed in. "You and Artie are a team."

Everyone stood up to clap their hands. The first song was over.

"What's the next song?" Mercedes asked.

"I have no idea," Tina said. She wasn't paying attention anyway.

The music started playing. It looked and sounded better than the first song. It was upbeat.

"It's a mashup," Kurt informed them.

_You were a child  
Crawling on your knees toward it  
Making momma so proud  
But your voice is too loud_

It sounded like a great song but Tina and Mercedes had no idea what it was.

Everyone was dancing along though.

"What song is this?" Mercedes asked.

"Kids by MGMT," Kurt answered.

_We like to watch you laughing  
You pick the insects off plants  
No time to think of consequences_

The tone changed, blended with something new.

Kitty went toward the center. Tina noticed she was closer to Artie. If he would just look up, he could've had seen her panties. Well, that was a bad idea. Still, why would he rather film the audience dancing?

_And after all the obstacles  
It's good to see you now with someone else_

"Cool," Tina said, "by Gwen Stefani."

_And it's such a miracle that you and me are still good friends  
After all that we've been through  
I know we're cool_

Listening to the lyrics, Kitty didn't seem cool with Artie at all.

Her eyes were glaring at him.

Her expresion changed when Spencer took the lead. All of them were dancing happily again.

_Control yourself_  
_Take only what you need from it_  
_A family of trees wanting to be haunted_  
_Control yourself_  
_Take only what you need from it_  
_A family of trees wanting to be haunted_

All of them were dancing. It was really great.

Artie seemed to be rolling around as well. Tina wondered how he still managed to keep the video camera steady.

_He had strong hands,_ Tina thought. Now she's smiling.

_I know we're cool  
I know we're cool  
Yeah  
I know we're cool_

Tina didn't notice herself glaring at Kitty.

_Was she getting all the parts in Cool? Well, she clearly didn't get the emotion of the song,_ she thought to herself.

_Come on, Tina Cohen-Chang, you can't possibly love Artie that way,_ she said to herself. _It's Artie._

As if saying his name was enough explanation. It's_ Artie._

_Decisions too  
Decisions are made and not bought  
But I thought this wouldn't hurt a lot  
I guess not_

_I know we're cool  
I know we're cool  
C-cool_

The song ended while the kids were forming a box formation – probably to assemble into an ice cube because of all the coolness, Tina thought. It would be lame if that were true though.

The performance overall was okay. She didn't really care.

She just wanted to speak to Artie. Confirm that everything was a misunderstanding. She didn't mean to embarrass him. She didn't mean to make everyone contemplate the song.

Rachel walked toward the stage. "Excuse me," she said.

Tina was already walking towards Artie.

"Please stay in your seats everyone," Rachel said. She noticed Tina. "Tina," she called out.

"Oh, come on!" Tina snapped – a little too loudly. "Sorry," she said, before heading back.

"I would like to hear reviews please," Rachel continued.

"It's ugly," someone said. It was just a stoner kid shouting at the back. He didn't really mean it, but it seemed to have upset Rachel.

"I'm hungry," chimed Santana.

No one really seemed to be paying attention to Rachel. That "ugly" comment was harsh, even if it came from someone irrelevant.

Tina felt bad for her. She raised her hand.

Rachel looked pleased. "Yes, Tina? Tell me everything. I'm all ears."

Wow, it took Tina five years for Rachel to say that to her. In all honesty, she was just going to say it was great. It was a lie. Well, it wasn't a whole lie. She just wanted to get this over with.

Still, having all ears on her for the first time without mock or ridicule was comforting.

"Well," she started. "It was really smart to do a mashup that could form the same song title, but the choreography needs improvement. And it sort of felt short – like it needed a third song."

"A ballad?" Kurt asked.

"Yes," Tina said.

Kurt looked at Rachel. His expression saying, "I told you so."

Santana glared at Tina. "I will eat _all_ your bread sticks later," she threatened.

Tina mouthed a sorry.

"Can we leave now?" she asked Mercedes.

Mercedes just walked out and everyone else followed.

Kurt and Rachel were left arguing while the glee kids were looking at them confused.

x

The alumni made the choir room their very own faculty room. It was 6pm and they were all hungry.

"Can we go now?" Santana asked Sam. Her hands were linked with Brittany's. "Mama's got to eat."

"No, we need to wait for Rachel," said Sam.

Puck and Quinn were trying to hide popcorn, but they were so obvious. It's a good thing they were the only two who liked wasabi-flavored. Maybe they did it on purpose.

Mr. Schue was chatting with Mike about his college life.

Tina noticed Mercedes suddenly looking glum. She knew why, but she figured it wasn't her place to ask.

She had some problems of her own.

Tina went to Artie who was videotaping everything. "Hey," she said, sitting beside him. "I… have to tell you something."

She couldn't look at him. It would be too hard.

Artie stopped recording, turned to Tina. "What is it?" You could tell he was nervous, but he was trying to control it as best as he could.

_I'm sorry if I embarrassed you,_ she wanted to say.

_I'm sorry if everyone thought I was trying to let you prove something. I'm sorry if I'm not sure about my feelings for you, because you aren't really good at showing your feelings to me either. Or we're just really slow – that makes us meant to be, I guess._

_You're still my best friend._

Tina felt the urge to hold Artie's hand. It was soft and magnetic, like holding cold water, chilling her bones, tracing her skin.

She turned speechless. She was looking at their hands intertwined together. She was scared to look at his eyes, because they might draw her in. She could feel his hands shaking.

She liked it.

He liked it too.

Sooner or later one of them had to say something.

"Okay," Rachel said, finally entering the choir room. Kurt and Sam followed as the glee kids were behind them. Kitty's eyes shot toward Tina and Artie.

Artie pulled away.

Was he guilty? Was he still in love with Kitty? Tina hoped to God it was the former.

"Thank you everyone for your support," Rachel continued. "Breadstix is on me!" she said, "Just the bread sticks."

"But those are free," said Mercedes.

"Exactly," Rachel said with a bright smile.

"You should go talk to her, Artie," Tina said, referring to Kitty.

Artie looked at her. His blue eyes were gleaming. "What do you mean?"

"She's clearly not over you," she added, looking at her knees. She forgot how beautiful his eyes were. "Closure or… something would be healthy."

Artie agreed. He squeezed Tina's hand before wheeling away, "Be right back."

She really hoped it was closure.

Artie's happiness was important. He couldn't be happy if he was still feeling guilty about how he broke things off with Kitty. Tina hoped it was _just_ guilt that he was feeling.

_He was just using her, right? He was using her to feel popular._ It was a bad thing to think. _Bad, Tina, bad,_ she thought to herself.

She didn't realize Puck and Quinn were watching them the whole time. Tina looked nuts scolding herself in her mind; she was visibly scowling like an idiot.

_It's going to be closure, Tina, don't worry._ _It's okay,_ she thought to herself to calm down.

She reminded herself _closure is good._

"Tina," came a voice from behind.

She turned around and saw Mike.

Before she could say something, Sam interrupted everyone. "Let's go!" he said.

They all left.

Neither of them got closure yet.

* * *

**I'd like to apologize (or not if you like them) for a lot of Wildebrams and Tike in this chapter, but hey, closure is good, right?**

**What do you think about the mashup? What do you think about Puck and Quinn being adorable? What do you think about the other pairings hinted in this chapter? Most importantly, what did you think about Artie and Tina here? Reviews are very much appreciated.**


	6. 5 Closure

**Warning: Mentions of molestation and porn. (Not graphic, but the word).**

**Semi-warning (if you're going to avoid this, you might as well close the chapter lol): Romantic Implications of Artie/someone not Tina and Tina/someone not Artie, you know who they are though.**

* * *

Artie left Kitty before he could even say anything. Well, to be completely honest, he still wasn't ready.

Rachel picked the biggest table for all of them to fit in at Breadstix. The moment Santana sat down, she ordered the biggest pizza. "It's on you," she told Rachel.

Mike sat beside Brittany. He motioned for Tina to sit next to him. It was the edge, so she agreed, thinking Artie would park his chair beside her.

Artie parked his chair on the other side. Quinn was surprised to see him next to her.

The whole table seemed to have noticed because everyone stopped speaking for a brief moment.

Thankfully, Rachel realized it was weird so she began, "About the ballad…"

And everyone trailed off to talk about something else.

"Hey Quinn…" Artie said. He couldn't help but sound glum.

Quinn looked across her; Mike and Tina were chatting. She looked at Artie with concern, "They're _just_ talking."

"The last time they were _just_ talking, Tina proposed to him," he pressed on. Why was he being so paranoid? Well, maybe because it was possible they'd get back together. Tina never said she was over Mike anyway.

"And he rejected, remember?" Quinn assured. "How can you even be sure that was the last time they've talked?"

That thought terrified Artie. They could've been texting every minute of every day. Oh my God, they could have even been _sexting_.

"That's not what I meant," Quinn said when she noticed Artie's frozen and alarmed expression. "You were _just_ talking to Kitty awhile ago, remember?" she reminded him.

"Well, yeah," he replied. He didn't like where this was going. "We didn't really get to talking," he explained. "And that's different."

"How is it different?" Quinn asked.

"It just is," Artie said, looking down. He was starting to feel embarrassed spilling everything out to her. "You know how Mike and Tina were, compared to Kitty and me. Or me with anyone, really."

"What are you saying?" Quinn insisted. Their voices were hushed so no one else heard them.

Artie looked at Tina once more. He was glad she was smiling – she wasn't as broken as before. Well, she was always strong. Mike was the only one that could make her weak in the knees. And well, Artie couldn't even feel his knees.

"She's in love with him, Quinn," was all that slipped out of his mouth. It was hard saying it out loud. His voice tightened. "Don't make me say it again."

Quinn looked at Tina and Mike. They didn't look as much alike anymore. They didn't look the way they did back in high school. Now, they look more like themselves. They weren't merged together anymore.

"It just looks like a casual conversation to me," she told Artie truthfully. She could never be too sure, but Yale has the best Psychology class and it taught them how to read people better.

"I don't think I ever… _loved_ anyone besides her," Artie said. "In that way, I mean," he added. "Brittany was probably the closest, but looking at how that turned out." He motioned to look at Brittany who was leaning on Santana's shoulder. "With Kitty, it was just – she was the one who I felt really loved me the most, you know? It's horrible how I could never feel the same way with her even if I should. God, I _know_ I should."

"You can't force yourself," Quinn advised. "It won't be right for Kitty. It won't be right for you either."

"How are you sure?" he asked.

"I tried to force myself with people who I didn't love but knew were right for me, and it didn't work out," she explained, mentally listing all of them, from Finn to Sam to Joe to Professor Gregory to Biff. She looked at the other person sitting next to her.

Puck, who was engaged in a conversation with Mercedes, stopped and looked at her. She smiled at the sight of him. "We've gone a long way, haven't we?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Puck asked.

"Nothing," Quinn replied before touching his cheek and reassuring him everything is fine.

Artie, although feeling very awkward by everything, smiled at the both of them.

Puck held her hand before talking to Mercedes and Blaine again.

"So I should tell Kitty the truth?" Artie asked.

Quinn nodded.

"That I never really loved her and I only used her to feel better about myself?" he continued. "Wouldn't that sound harsh?"

Quinn frowned. "No," she answered hastily.

"You just said I should –"

"Not in that way," Quinn argued. "Look," she leaned forward so only Artie heard her. "When Finn found out about me and Puck, he was really shaken. Now Finn was a guy who genuinely cared for me, remember? He didn't love me," she frowned at what she said, but had already accepted it, "but he was pissed. How much more would it feel like if you were hurting a girl who genuinely loved you?"

"Terrible," Artie said. "But I never cheated on Kitty. This conversation is going nowhere, really."

"I'm saying," Quinn replied, trying her best to be very patient with him. "You have to come in terms with yourself first - stop being insecure, using someone just because they give you power – it's _pathetic_. Second, you need to apologize to Kitty sincerely - avoid harsh words about her. Focus on _yourself_ – men are always wrong, remember that."

She was genuinely frustrated with Artie and how he's handling everything.

"O-okay," Artie said. He really pissed Quinn off. He put his phone out. "I'm going to text her right now."

"What?" Quinn snapped. "Are you _that_ dull?"

"I'm going to text her about meeting up tomorrow and talking things through," Artie explained. "Jeez, Quinn, I'm not stupid enough to tell her everything through text."

Well, he almost was.

Meanwhile, Tina and Mike were coming in terms with each other pretty well. At first, Tina felt uneasy with how everyone seemed to shift their gazes at them every once in a while.

Mike assured her there was nothing to worry about.

"How are you?" he started the moment she sat down.

They haven't conversed in a long time. Ever since the little epiphany that Tina had experienced, she hadn't allowed herself to talk to Mike Chang that often – until "that often" led to not at all. He didn't even try.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Great, actually," she added, meaning it. It was the first time she had ever talked to Mike as friends. Well, in _her_ side. She had always been so hung up on him – it had been a habit more than a feeling. "You?" she asked.

Mike smiled. She remembered that smile so well, but the feeling was long forgotten. "Guess who's dancing in the new Justin Timberlake video."

He's doing great.

"Oh my God, Mike, that's amazing!" she said.

The two shared a brief hug. She was smiling at herself. If she was in love with him, she probably wouldn't have let go.

He let go first, but surprisingly, she was okay with that.

"This wouldn't happen if it weren't for you," he said, thanking her for enrolling him into this dance school.

"You're welcome," she replied. Normally, she would blush and say he was the one responsible for everything that had happened to him, but her role was pretty big too. Hell, she probably did everything to make sure he entered that college in Chicago.

She was looking at him while he continued speaking about the video, nodding along. He was still Mike Chang, only better – and by better, not hers. And that was okay.

Mike didn't even notice she wasn't speaking. He went on and on about his project. Tina didn't mind, she was happy for him, and happy that she'd finally let go.

"What do you say?" he asked.

_He was asking you a question_, Tina said to herself, retreating back to reality where it was polite to listen and reply to questions. "What?" she said, "Sorry?"

Mike smiled. He was always a patient friend. "Don't you ever listen?" He was joking, but Tina cringed. "I said," he continued on, "would you want to go to Chicago for the first week of summer? Don't worry, I'm asking Artie to come too."

Tina's eyes widened. "What do you mean by that?" she failed at hiding her defensiveness.

Mike laughed. "You know," he said.

"I don't," Tina said. She was starting to sweat.

"Artie loves directing music videos," he replied. "It'd be great for him to see a professional set, don't you think?"

Tina let out a sigh of relief. It was awkward if Mike Chang was going to tease her with Artie. She couldn't believe she would even think that. I mean, Mercedes would think "that," sure, but _Mike_? There's no way. There's no way Artie and her were _that_ obvious – wait, obvious at _what_ again?

_No way._

"Tina," Mike said.

She stopped staring blankly at the plate of bread. She was starting to feel really grateful for Mike. Who would've known he'd be such a great friend too?

He wouldn't address how awkward it would be for the two of them, so he invited Artie to come along.

"Joseph Kahn is directing," he said.

The name sounded familiar.

"Oh, he's Artie's favorite music video director," Tina said, beaming as she remembered. They were watching Taylor Swift's music video Blank Space, and she wondered why Artie was so excited back then.

"Brittany is coming too," he added. "I got her a gig as one of the dancers - that means Santana is also coming. The five of us in Chicago would be really amazing."

"It really would," Tina said.

"Of course," he continued, suddenly remembering. "If you would rather watch the glee kids perform in Nationals that would be understandable."

"Mike," she said. "Chicago with you and everyone else would be better."

Mike smiled. "That's great. Can't wait to ask Artie," he added.

"Can't wait for him to say yes," she replied.

Mike nodded, before entering a conversation with Brittany and Santana.

Tina was genuinely happy being friends with Mike. She wished she were friends with him earlier, but now is also good. Now is a fresh start for her and everyone else.

She joined in with everyone else's discussion. She wished Artie moved over and talked to her though; he seemed to be discussing something important with Quinn.

x

The next day, only Artie, Mike, and Blaine helped Sam, Kurt, and Rachel in directing the glee club. The rest seemed to be with their families or with each other at the mall and stuff.

Tina or Quinn and Puck weren't there so Artie was all business.

He liked filming Sam and Kurt because they were calmer teachers compared to Rachel. They dismissed the practice early, because Kurt and Rachel were still arguing on what ballad the kids should sing.

"See you in Chicago then," Mike told him before leaving.

"Yeah, thanks Mike," Artie replied.

He was left alone in the choir room, he wanted to record how gloomy and empty it felt alone, so he filmed the chairs first before turning the camera a hundred and eighty degrees.

"I forgot my bag," Kitty said, before entering.

Artie shut his camera off and nodded. He was startled to see her, so he remained silent as he waited for her to leave, but she was taking pretty long to get her stuff.

Suddenly, a thought seemed to have crossed Artie's mind.

_Oh crap_, Artie thought. _Oh crap, oh crap._

_I'm going to need to talk to her now, am I?_

_Well, of course. You texted her you would after all._

"Kitty," he started, interrupting himself from talking to himself in his mind.

Kitty stopped moving. "What?" she said, but she wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were faced on a chair and her hands were clutched on her bag.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

Kitty shrugged. She didn't have time for small talk with anyone especially Artie.

He would've had normally given up, but he tried some more. "Can we talk?"

Kitty sighed, turned, and glared at him. "What?"

She sat down a chair and waited for Artie to wheel closer to her.

"We're okay, right?" he asked while wheeling towards her. "I mean, we're friends."

It sounded like he was assuring himself more than he was assuring her.

Kitty nodded. "Sure," she said. It didn't sound right.

"Do you want to get back together?" Artie flat out asked.

"What?" Kitty snapped. She looked repulsed, "Of course not! I can't believe you'd even ask me something like that."

Artie looked relieved, but also offended. "Why are you mad at me then?"

Now it was Kitty's turn to feel offended. "So you didn't mean it?" Well, she figured that from the start, but how rude of Artie to ask her about getting back together without actually planning to. Then again, it was _Artie_. He was stupid with relationships.

"N-no, I mean, no," Artie stammered. He didn't really sound very good. He kept making excuses for his words and actions. He should've had sucked it up from the start. "I mean, I'm not good with words when I'm nervous. And the reason I'm nervous is because I really don't know how I could apologize."

Something brightened in Kitty's eyes. She looked pleased and surprised. "Are you apologizing?"

Artie nodded. "I'm sorry for… _everything," _he started, not really sure where to even start. "I know I've said it before, but I'm saying it again. I was a terrible boyfriend."

Kitty agreed to everything he said, but motioned for him to go on.

"I wasn't as sweet and caring as you. I never listened to what you had to say. I was completely offensive with how I handled your secret," he continued.

Even if Kitty opened up to him about being molested, he was still making jokes about it. "I didn't realize how serious it was. And I'm sorry. I swear my jokes were never meant to _hurt_ you – but I forget about how it could hurt you. You're amazing with how you took it all in," he explained lamely. Recalling all his faults, he was indeed a terrible boyfriend.

"You're right," Kitty said. "You were a terrible boyfriend."

Artie shrugged. _Thanks, Kitty,_ he wanted to say. _You called me names too._ But it wasn't a competition.

"Do you know why I put up with that?" she asked him.

Artie shook his head. She really shouldn't have. He was already guilty enough.

"Because I loved you," she said.

He gulped. It's weird how Kitty Wilde, a hot and popular blonde cheerleader was telling him stuff like this, and instead of feeling happy about it, he was feeling terrible.

_Should I tell her I loved her too?_ he asked himself. _Okay, Abrams, you're going to pile up more lies here._ "I loved you too." _Crap – good job, Artie._

Kitty looked at him. She wanted to believe him, but it just didn't sound right. "Thanks," she said. "That was nice to hear," she admitted. "I guess I wasn't a perfect girlfriend either – I called you names too."

"I was used to it," he said. It was true. It never did bother him, the names, especially when it came from her.

She just looked at him with a peculiar expression. How could she have loved someone as flawed as him? God, was she stupid.

This is probably the hardest and smartest thing she has ever done for herself.

"I guess," she continued, filling the spaces with conversations. "It was hard for me to see you so happy without me."

He wanted to ask how, but she kept going on.

"I mean, all of you were doing just fine after Sue cancelled the Glee club," she said. "I didn't know why it was so easy for all of you to throw the bond away. Ryder left. Marley left. Jake left. Everyone left. And it looked like it was so easy for you to leave. I wished I could leave too, but Sue needed me in her Cheerios. And even if they weren't family – they were a team."

"I'm sorry," was all Artie could say. There was nothing for him to do or excuse.

Glee club was over, but he had no reason to fight for it anymore back then. Everyone he cared about had already graduated. He had graduated. He forgot there were still something he had left behind, something that helped him move on and do greater things in life in the first place.

"And that camera," she added, frowning at what Artie was holding. "I'm sorry if I'm very conscious about it, but it brings up bad memories of my m-molester."

Artie didn't know that. Even if he did watch that type of porn, it still felt weird knowing it was done in real life. He wanted to crush the camera in his hands even if it didn't involve any videos like that.

Kitty's repulsed reaction made him guiltier. "That's horrible," he said. "I promise I won't get shots of you."

Kitty shook her head. She was sort of smiling now. Smiling is good. "No," she said. "I want to be a part of your video. Maybe I was just hostile, because this week and the last just felt really weird to me." She used to be able to face cameras, but the fact that Artie was holding it made her feel insecure again for some reason.

"Good," Artie replied, smiling sincerely. It would be easier for him to film now. "It wouldn't be the same without you." He meant it.

"I love performing anyway," she said. "And if your film friends ask who I am, you better give me their numbers."

"Noted," Artie replied, chuckling. "It's great we've finally gotten closure."

Kitty nodded. "It sure is," she said, before thinking about giving him a warm hug. "Screw it," she said, before leaning and hugging him.

Artie gladly hugged her back too. It wasn't a lie - Artie loved Kitty in a way. His love just wasn't strong enough for them to keep a relationship.

"One more thing," she said as she let go. She couldn't hide her curiosity. "There's someone new, right?"

Artie cringed. Was this a trick question? They just became real friends again, and she wanted to ruin it? "Sorta," he said – that's the realest answer for now.

Kitty nodded. "I'm happy for you," she said. She wasn't really just happy for him. She was happy for herself too; she was proud of how good she was at noticing things.

It wasn't someone new, it was Tina. Kitty wasn't fully happy with the idea, but at least she saw it coming; Artie was always on Tina's side. Maybe they deserved each other. But Kitty wasn't stupid enough to be happy for them now, but it will grow on her.

She couldn't possibly be bitter forever - she was so much better than that.

* * *

**A/N: This is the first chapter with no music. Also, I hope y'all aren't mad at me for the Tike and Wildebrams interaction. :\ I stated why they were problematic, but also why they worked - sort of. (I do that to all the ships anyway.) Thank you for reading the chapter! Still, reviews are always always appreciated. :)**


	7. 6 The Kiss

**A/N: ****Joseph Khan reference was also accidental, but I'm glad I randomly picked him.**

**Also, I apologize for any grammar mistakes (It's 5am and this chapter makes me want to die.)**

**Lastly, friendly reminder that it's canon that Tina Cohen-Chang is a warrior AND a princess. That is all.**

* * *

Wednesday felt like a breeze for Rachel and Kurt as the new kids took charge and picked a ballad. Well, Kitty took charge and picked a ballad, but no one had a problem with that.

The ballad was already in the performance anyway.

"But I wanted Cool and Kids to be a mashup," Kurt complained.

"Well, I wanted a solo wedding," Santana interrupted, before looking at Brittany. "But look how happy we were with the double wedding."

Her voice wasn't convincing enough.

All the other alumni were there to show their support, except Puck and Quinn who were "busy" with something.

Tina gave up reaching out to Artie so they didn't interact as much at first. No one seemed to notice though. Everyone was worried about the performance. Well, they should be since they had only three days left before Regionals.

"Okay," Rachel started. "Can we start? That would be great, please," she added impatiently.

Kitty took center-stage.

"Wow, shocker," Tina whispered to Blaine who felt guilty reacting back since he always got the solos before.

_It's hard to remember how it felt before  
Now I found the love of my life..._

Since Artie finally made peace with Kitty, he had been more comfortable with filming the glee kids perform.

_Passes things get more comfortable  
Everything is going right_

He sat at the center of the auditorium, giving him full and symmetrical view of the performance. He was glad he'd made amends with Kitty. Sure, it's awkward with the two of them alone – they were never really friends, but why would that ever happen again, right? At least now he could film them nicely.

_And after all the obstacles  
It's good to see you now with someone else  
And it's such a miracle that you and me are still good friends  
After all that we've been through  
I know we're cool_

"She has gotten a lot better now though," Blaine said, in which Tina replied with a glare.

She couldn't argue, because it was true; Kitty was finally smiling.

"You're right," Tina admitted. She didn't know why it was pissing her off though – probably because Kitty was smiling directly at Artie. Well, she was smiling directly at the _camera_... that Artie was looking at.

Tina began rubbing her temples. _You can't be jealous now, Tina,_ she told herself. _It's Artie, you're best friend. And Kitty, you're – someone you know._

Why has she always been so protective of Artie when it involved Kitty? _Stop being so protective, Tina,_ she reminded herself. Protective seemed like a much better word than jealous.

Tina looked at Artie who was finally filming the performance. He was smiling at his camera too. She couldn't tell what kind of smile it meant.

Did something happen yesterday? She knew she should've had helped them instead; she could've had talked to Artie and stuff.

Still, bonding with Mercedes in the mall was fun. She learned things like how Mercedes still felt like she wasn't over Sam and stuff. Mercedes asked her about Artie too, but Tina refused to answer. She was asked about Mike as well, to which she answered truthfully that they're now good friends. Why couldn't they just talk about it here though?

Oh, right, Sam was here.

"What happened yesterday?" Tina asked Blaine.

Blaine was surprised with Tina's hostility. "What do you mean?"

"Something must've had happened yesterday." She went on, "Something that must've had helped Kitty perform well today. It must have something to do with... _your_ help. I mean, the _three_ of you were here yesterday, right? How did _you_ help?"

She sounded like a mad woman.

Blaine saw where this was going, and pretended to be oblivious about it. "Aw, thanks Tina. I'm sure we weren't as much help. Maybe Kitty had it in her all along."

"Seriously, Blaine," she said.

Blaine was hesitant at first, but he really couldn't do anything. He felt really uneasy with the situation. Usually he was the one getting all the dilemmas or he was the dilemma, so being the adviser was really hard for him.

He glanced at his husband, Kurt, who made a face that said, "You're on your own, buddy."

"Why don't you talk to him?" he advised, because any answer would make Tina jump into the weirdest and ugliest conclusions anyway.

Tina agreed. Why won't she just talk to him? Well, the last time she confronted him about Kitty, Kitty professed her love for him in front of everyone and Tina felt like an idiot.

"Alone," Blaine added, remembering a scenario that happened during senior year.

"I couldn't agree with you more," she replied.

She couldn't really help herself. She had to physically stop herself from wanting to stand up, walk towards Artie, and say, "Hey, what's the deal?"

"Why do you keep grabbing my arm every time a verse is over?" Blaine complained, confused at Tina's behaviour and game face.

The new kids ended with Kids by MGMT.

Tina heard Kurt say, "Wasn't it better as a mashup?" to which Blaine automatically agreed.

She finally stood up and walked toward Artie whose eyes were still glued to his camera.

When he finally turned to face Tina, he had this huge smile on his face that Tina couldn't help but melt for. "Hi," was all she could manage to say.

"Hey, Tina," Artie said. "What did you think? They were pretty great, huh?"

Tina nodded. It wasn't really the topic she wanted to talk to him about, but at least they're talking again. "Yeah, what was your favourite part?"

_Wow - really, Tina_? She scolded herself. _You chose this moment to be shy around your best friend of six years!_

_But he looked so happy, I don't want anything to upset him – oh, shut up._

"The last part," Artie said. "It seemed like all of them were into it. How about you?" he asked in a very formal manner.

_Seriously, he wasn't going to say Kitty's part?_ Tina thought. _Well, that's a good sign, right?_ Then again, he could just be hiding their relationship from her again. Wow, that thought really pissed her off. I mean, why couldn't he just admit Kitty had the best part? _They were basically having eye-sex together!_

Tina kept forgetting she was in a conversation with Artie. "Sure," she replied, forgetting what Artie even said.

She took a deep breath as they stepped out of the auditorium. She was pushing Artie's chair, and instead of following their friends to the choir room, she turned left.

"Tina?" Artie asked. He was starting to feel nervous. He didn't like it when he didn't have control on where he was going. He always trusted her, but she seemed to have acted on impulse.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second?" she said.

As he nodded, Tina let go of his wheelchair and let him do it alone. That way they were in line together.

"Where are we going?" Artie asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. She had no idea why she was nervous. It was _Artie_. She's basically going to ask him the same question she asked him during senior year.

He might deny it again, but hey, at least Tina Cohen-Chang was consistent.

"Are you hungry?" Artie asked.

Tina stopped before nodding. Would they go on a date right now? She planned on coming back to the others after this was over, but hey, a date with Artie would be amazing. The others won't even look for them; they never do.

"Let's go to the canteen then," Artie suggested.

_Oh_, Tina thought. She was thinking more of a restaurant, like Breadstix - since that seemed to be the only restaurant they get to go to – but no. So it wasn't going to be a date then. "Okay," she replied awkwardly.

She wasn't pushing his chair, but it had been a habit to have one hand on it and the other on his shoulder. She wished he'd hold her hand though, but that was okay.

They entered the canteen which was supposedly empty at 5:30pm.

"There's no one here," Tina said as they continued to head inside. She had never seen it empty before.

"There's no food," Artie said, frowning.

"Do you have five bucks?" Tina asked, smiling.

Artie nodded, handing the money to her. He didn't know why she was asking though. If this was what they were going to talk about, they'd wasted a whole lot of talking and rolling to get here. Of course, it was okay.

Tina walked toward the food stall. She took a pin out of her hair, and picked the lock of the gate.

"Tina," Artie whispered in surprise. "What are you doing? We'll get in trouble!"

"No, we're not," she said. She flashed his money. "We're paying."

"For breaking and entering," he explained, but he was also smiling.

"We aren't breaking anything," she explained. She left the five dollar bill on the counter.

She tied her hair, picked up a spoon, and an apron, "What would you have?"

Artie wheeled toward the line section. "Your special, ma'am," he played along.

Tina pretended to be surprised. "It seems like I haven't cooked anything today," she said. "This is an unfortunate first day."

"What the hell, woman, the kids are starving," Artie joked. "Look at the long line."

He pointed at the non-existent line.

They burst into laughter.

Tina checked the kitchen for real that time. "There isn't anything left," she said.

"Well, that's good. If there was something left, that would probably be unsanitary," he replied.

She took the five dollars before heading out of the kitchen. She didn't bother locking it.

She sat where Artie was parked in.

He revealed two sandwiches. "I'm always ready," he said.

"You brought sandwiches?" Tina asked, surprised and embarrassed. She took one. "You still allowed me to sneak in there?" She was blushing. "I looked like an idiot."

"An idiot, yes, but an idiot who was having the time of her life," he said as he took a bite.

"Well, I'm glad you have this idiot's back. I missed Mrs. Abrams' sandwiches," she commented. She hadn't had them in years. She wasn't really hungry, but they were delicious as hell.

"So," Artie started. "What did you want to talk about? I'm assuming it's not just to borrow five dollars." He eyed her pocket.

Tina looked at him like he had just ruined the mood of something wonderful. She gave him his five dollars back, before starting, "Artie." She held his hand. "You know you're my best friend, right?"

Artie held the hand holding his. "I never forget it, Tina," he answered.

"So you never forget that you can tell me anything, right?" she continued.

Artie nodded, having no idea where this was going. He was starting to feel terrified.

"Anything at all... whether it's a problem about your films – even if I have no idea what they mean, or your roommate being an asshole, or a new girlfriend, or even like an _old one_, or even you having Chlamydia again, right?"

"What?"

"Oh, Sam told me, I think – or Blaine, that's not the point," Tina continued on. She started laughing nervously – why did she have to bring Chlamydia up?

"What's your point then?" he asked. He was starting to feel even more nervous. "I'm cured now, you know," he felt the need to add.

"Are you and Kitty back together?" Tina just flat out asked. She didn't know how it was going to be delivered smoothly anyway.

"What?" Artie asked, surprised that it would even come up. Instead of being honest, and telling the truth, he wanted to play. "Why'd you ask?"

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face," she said.

Artie couldn't help but smile; Tina _was_ jealous.

"Artie," Tina said. "Just answer me, please," she said. "I won't tell anyone. It's none of my business, but I just want to know – I want to know what's going on with my best friend."

The worry in her face was enough. He couldn't let her be any more anxious.

He smiled at her reassuringly. "No," he said. "We aren't together, Tina, but we finally talked."

"Oh," Tina sighed. She looked happier than she should be. "That's great," she slipped out. "I mean, not great _great_, but like great that you finally talked and... stuff. About...?" She waited for Artie to continue, but he just looked at her. He was bemused and amused.

_She's so cute_, Artie thought to himself.

"About what exactly?" Tina continued before realizing it wasn't really a good idea. "You don't have to tell me, I mean I respect your privacy," she added lamely. It sounded like she didn't _like_ his privacy though.

"About our relationship," he answered. "I don't think we're ever going back together."

Tina tried so hard to stop herself from smiling. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Artie admitted. "At least now I don't feel guilty anymore. I couldn't pretend I didn't hurt her or anything. At least now I properly apologized."

"Do you think she's really over you?" Tina asked and then regretted it later. If he answers yes, he could be lying, and if he answers no, he would be an asshole. "You don't have to answer that."

Artie smiled. "She did good at Cool," was all he said.

"Yeah," Tina agreed. "I'm glad you had closure."

"I am too," he honestly replied.

It was silent for a while. Tina was enjoying every bit of Mrs. Abrams' sandwich, while Artie was fiddling with his camera again.

Artie looked at her eating and smiled. "Do you remember this place?"

Tina looked at him weirdly. If he meant the canteen, then she sure did. It's like where they ate for four years and stuff. She just nodded.

Artie chuckled. "I meant this exact table. We were fifteen and you were listening to The Cure."

"Oh, crap," Tina said. She started to tear up. "Artie, don't do this to me. I feel like I'm going to cry." She thought it was so sweet of Artie to remember, but also so terrible of him to remind her while she was completely calm again. "You walk up to me and I turn my iPod off."

"Is this seat taken?" Artie started in a very fake and tiny voice. "I'm Artie Abrams, by the way."

"I-I-I," Tina started, trying to fake a stutter.

"Oh, that's okay, you can write it down," Artie continued. He was trying to hide his laugh.

Tina, being the stubborn woman that she was and always will be, refused to write. "I'm Tina Cohen-Chang," she said in a proud voice.

"Hiya Tina Cohen-Chang," Artie replied. He was still pretending to be younger. "I might forget who the other two people were – although I do remember one of them having a tail, but do you know you're going to be my best friend?"

"I-I s-sure do, Artie Abrams," she said, happily. _God, that was six years ago._

Retreating back to his normal voice, Artie began, "You did?" He looked genuinely happy and pleased. Tina couldn't help but stand up, lean in, and kiss him again.

"Too soon?" she asked.

"About time," he replied.

Tina nodded. "I have to tell you something," she started as she sat back down.

"Oh no, Tina," Artie interrupted. "I don't want to do _that_ flashback. It ended badly."

He was still laughing though.

Tina laughed as well, but she was serious. She hoped he would take this lightly. "The first time I saw you, I wanted to be your friend right away," she said.

Artie smiled.

She continued, "Because you were in a wheelchair. You were the perfect non-conformist friend. But then I realized that you were more than that. And I was so glad we got to be in glee club together – we did everything together. I'm so glad you were so much more."

Artie was still smiling. "That's okay, Tina. I wanted to be your friend because you were Goth."

"Really?" Tina asked. Maybe they both had superficial reasons for being friends at first.

"No," he replied. "I thought you were an outcast like me."

"Oh, I guess we're even then," Tina said with a cheeky grin, "Along with our other glee friends who were also outcasts."

"Yeah," Artie agreed, laughing. "We're still the biggest misfits in there, right?"

"Yes, we are," Tina said before leaning on Artie's shoulder.

"Tina?" Artie started. "What about you and Mike?" It probably wasn't the right time, but he needed to know. They talked about his situation with Kitty anyway.

"We're friends," she said.

Artie scoffed.

"We really are now, finally," she admitted. She was happy about it. How could she show Artie that she was happy about being friends with Mike without wanting anything more?

"We talked about Joseph Khan and Chicago," she said. "You're coming, right? It's _Joseph Khan_."

"Yeah," he said, although he was having thoughts not to. His expression turned grim – like he remembered something he wasn't supposed to.

"It doesn't sound like a convincing yes," Tina commented.

Why did he have to remember that? It had been years since it had crossed his mind and bothered him this much, but since they were reminiscing.

"Did you _ever_ love me that way before?" It felt like word vomit. His voice was shaking when he said it, but it forced its way out. He wished she didn't hear it.

Tina couldn't answer. She was surprised.

What was he thinking? It wasn't a brief moment. It was two years of seeing them together hand in hand, erasing him as a lover from the past.

"All these years, all I heard was 'Mike Chang is my _first_ love,'" His voice was breaking with all the bitterness stored inside him. "I even had to sit and decide for _you_ along with Blaine and Puck if I agreed about you marrying Mike – a guy you left me for. You even said he was your _best_ friend." He swore to himself it was just word vomit. He was starting to tear up.

What was Tina supposed to say?

"Artie, that was years ago," was all she managed to reply. It sounded like a sad excuse – a wrong one too.

"That was months ago," Artie corrected.

"I'm sorry, Artie!" she sounded frustrated. She didn't know why she started to shout, but she did. Suddenly, everything seemed frustrating. "I didn't mean to invalidate our relationship."

"Well, you did," Artie said.

"Stop being childish for one second, Abrams, you were the one who ignored me all summer – for a video game!"

"We were kids!"

"Exactly!" Tina screamed some more. "Exactly... that's why I didn't think you really loved me. You didn't fight for me."

"Judging by Mike Chang's abs, you didn't seem like you wanted me to fight for you," he replied. His crying was starting to be more visible. "I _cried_, Tina. For weeks. My parents were so worried about me, you don't understand."

"I cried too," Tina said. "About you, even before we were together, even before we broke up."

Artie laughed - the barking kind. "You cry all the time." He was mocking her.

"This isn't a competition," Tina said. She was starting to get really angry and confused.

"It's not," Artie agreed. "How could it be a competition when only one person was competing?"

"I tried reaching out to you," she added, her voice fighting to sound calmer.

"As friends," Artie added.

"You were already with Brittany then," Tina explained.

"How did that work out?" Artie asked.

"You had sex with her – you boasted about it for weeks!"

"That didn't mean anything. I didn't say she was my _first_ love. I didn't deny my relationship with you. I still loved you, Tina," he said. "I always did. No matter who I was with, or who I tried to win over, you were always in the back of my mind, but you were already won over by Mike."

Tina seemed really angry. "You never fought for me," was all she could say. "You never fought for me. You never fought for me. You never fought for me!"

She started screaming again. It was so frustrating to hear him say this now. Most importantly, it was frustrating to know all her mistakes. Still, Artie needed to realize his.

"Why did you think I joined the football team?" Artie reminded her. "Months later, you join in to win Mike over."

"Why are you only telling me now?" she continued. "Why couldn't you tell me when I was with Mike, or when we were at our Tuesday lunches?"

"What was the point?" Artie said. "You might've just forgotten about it."

Tina gave up. "I'm sorry," was all she could say. It was what she should've had said in the first place.

That didn't explain how they managed to forget about everything else. Artie wanted an explanation - an explanation Tina couldn't give him right away.

He also wanted to kiss her so bad again, but it's only going to make him remember something she had long forgotten.

"I'm sorry too," he said. He needed to address the fact that they were both wrong in some way. He didn't understand why he needed to apologize, but he felt it was right. Still, he was upset. "Maybe there's a reason why we never talk about it."

For the second time, Artie turned and wheeled away. Tina was left confused.

"Artie," she said, but she was also exhausted.

Neither of them went back to the choir room.

* * *

**A/N: The Kiss by The Cure was playing on loop whilst I was writing this - reason for The Cure reference.**

**Also addressing how your ship is problematic and stating ways to fix it is very healthy (and I love meta angst.) I hope y'all aren't pissed at me. I like hurting myself via ship angst. Anywho, thanks for reading and reviews are apprecia**ted!


	8. 7 Realize

**A/N: I have a lot (a hella lot) of chapters to write before the ending, and I have a question for y'all. So whose story do you want to see mentioned in the following chapters?**

**I think my last chapter had no music, so "Let there be music."**

**Warning: Chapter contains derogatory slur ("bitch")**

* * *

Artie lied on his bed, not bothering to take off his shoes, allowing the exhaustion to take over him. He caught up with his own breath. He could hear his own heart beating loudly – it was the only sound in his room.

"You blew it," he whispered to himself.

He was breathing heavily. He wanted to cry, but frustration filled up on him instead.

If Artie had thought about it, it wasn't Tina's fault. He caught her off guard. They were okay.

But he remembered. He just _had_ to remember.

He mustered all his frustrations on a pillow, beating it up before throwing it away.

He screamed. He was so angry with himself. He was angry with allowing himself to remember. He was angry with her as well.

He screamed some more until his throat felt sore.

It was silent again. The only sound was his breathing and gasping. It felt like 2010. It felt like he was sixteen again, and the bitterness of young love's sting was fresh.

There were three knocks on the door.

He didn't stir.

"Artie?" his mother called. She sounded deeply alarmed. It was the same voice of concern his mother had when he cried about Tina for the first time, and the second time, and the other times before sophomore year started. "Are you okay, sweetie?" she continued.

Artie tried to swallow all the anger in his voice away. "I'm recording my screaming for a new - film," he lied. He screamed one more time to make it seem convincing. "What do you think?" he asked his mom. "Does it sound angry enough?"

"Yeah," his mother replied. "You're doing a great job, sweetheart."

Artie kept quiet before he heard his mother's footsteps leave.

He didn't want to repeat the past. It was so hard for him to recover. His pride was the only thing that kept him fine in all those years.

He was going to suck it up and enter glee practice tomorrow like nothing had happened. After all, he expected her to do the same.

xxx

Artie convinced himself that he _needed_ to go to McKinley in the last two days. They had three days left; he still needed a lot of things to shoot.

Rachel hadn't had a proper diva meltdown yet, and he wanted to be there when it happened.

He was prepared to see Tina again – he had to be. He prepped himself to numb the feelings of anger and guilt away, and to not look at her like he wanted to be with her so badly.

But Tina wasn't there.

Aside from Artie, Kurt, and Rachel, the other alumni only went to McKinley when they felt like it. Sometimes they were there, sometimes they weren't.

Tina, Mercedes, and Sam were the ones who were consistently absent for the last two days. Judging by the look on Rachel's face, Artie advised himself not to ask.

He was unfeeling.

How could Tina's absence both speed and slow down time?

Seconds felt like hours in the choir room and the auditorium, but when the day was over, he would remember only a second of it. Even conversations with Brittany, Santana, Blaine, Mike, Quinn, or Puck were bland – they'd be gone the other day or leave early without a good bye. They'd joke with him and stuff, and he swore he forgot to even smile sometimes.

Was he turning _Goth_?

Artie shivered at that thought. Only Tina Cohen-Chang could pull off that look. He began to miss her again.

Quinn was the only person he could confide his secrets to.

Mercedes was one of his best friends too, but she wasn't there. She would probably choose Tina's side over his anyway. He didn't want an ally, he wanted someone to listen.

"It was my fault, I started asking her about the past after we kissed, then we both got mad," was all he could tell Quinn, but he was handed pretty good insight.

"She's coming to the show on Saturday, I'm sure of it," she assured him when he was starting to look agitated.

"Do you think she'll talk to me?" Artie asked. He kept rubbing his hands; it was a method for him to stop over-thinking.

"Hey," Puck joined in. He was worried for Artie as well. "If she won't then you should man up and talk to her, buddy!" he advised.

Artie wasn't sure when Puck and Quinn started becoming his young parents, but at least _he_ wasn't an accident. He really appreciated the both of them. He was pretty sad when Puck wasn't there on Friday and Quinn had to go "home" early. He didn't remember being this needy over his friends before.

He pushed the thought aside, and continued with his project.

He had many films of Rachel acting like a huge bitch, but there wasn't an ultimate scene. Maybe she'd changed.

There were scenes where Brittany and Santana were teaching the new kids new dance steps. Only Kitty, Mason, and Madison could follow – it must be a cheerleader thing.

Mike wanted to help as well, but Mr. Schue wanted to talk to him about Justin Timberlake.

Artie liked filming Kurt with the students. He seemed so calm and nurturing. It felt like he found something he could be good at without his husband in the way – and he loved every bit of independence he could get. The kids loved him too.

Those two days were pretty slow, but at least he captured something.

xxx

It was Regionals.

Artie's dad drove him to the place. Blaine offered, but he didn't like the smell of hairspray in his car.

Artie met everyone else backstage. The first thing that caught his eyes was Tina and Mercedes talking.

Tina looked at him and smiled.

He did the same. It still felt hopeless going up to her, so he kept a distance.

"I'd like to say something," Rachel said. She turned to the alumni, "I'd like to thank all of you for being able to come. Even though we aren't the ones performing there anymore, I still feel like this is _our_ show."

Her eyes began to water.

Santana rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as well. "Come on, Rachel. This isn't the last performance. You still have Nationals."

"Even if we win tonight, not everyone is going to be there. You guys have your own lives already," Rachel replied. "And that's okay, but I'd just like to saying something now that we're still complete: Thank you."

All of the alumni went to Rachel and gave her a big hug.

She retreated, because she was still tearing up. "And it's just going to be a cycle, isn't it? New Directions is going to get bigger and bigger, but it's still going to feel like a family."

She turned to the new kids, "Thank you for giving glee club a chance. I'd like to apologize for my behavior this week, but I'm really grateful for all your efforts. Whatever happens, you are going to perform there and feel like winners. Each and every one of you is special… like us, and that's what makes this club special."

The glee kids were hesitant to come up to their coach. Kitty ran and hugged Rachel. Finally, everyone followed.

She motioned for Kurt and Sam to join in. "Hug two of the best male coaches too," she said. Then she turned to Mr. Schue, "And the man who started it all."

Mr. Schue mouthed a "thank you," and joined in on the hug.

Suddenly, all the alumni, the coaches, and the new kids hugged each other. It was a sight to see.

Artie filmed every second of it.

Someone came and announced that New Directions were up next in ten minutes.

Kurt was the first to break all the hugging. "We should've done this _after_ the performance," he said, worried at everyone's emotional vulnerability. He was still smiling though. "Now get in there and break a leg," he said, and the kids followed.

Everyone was smiling and feeling sentimental, but Artie just couldn't wait to film the whole performance. He wanted to get this over with.

He was going to ask Tina to watch the performance in the audience with him, but she looked so happy with other friends.

_We have other friends too_, Artie reminded himself. His own company was enough anyway.

xxx

The alumni wanted to celebrate their final day together and the glee kids' Regionals win in Breadstix. It always felt like the only restaurant for McKinley students. They were the ones who filled the place on a Saturday night.

Artie found it easier to keep quiet and blend in with everyone else. He wanted to shoot every moment of this – it was essential. Of course, he planned to talk to Tina after, but he couldn't find where she was sitting.

He searched around and she was nowhere to be found.

The new kids seemed to be in one table – their parents were in another. They seemed to have warmed up with each other, but not with the alumni. Kitty was their bridge and leader.

Artie passed a small table. He asked Quinn who was sitting beside Rachel and she just shrugged. "Where's Puck?" he asked as well.

"In the bathroom," Quinn replied almost too quickly.

Artie went to Mercedes' table; she was laughing with Blaine and Kurt. "Oh, hey Artie," she started when she saw him coming over.

"How are you?" Artie asked. They never really talked as much as they used to. Maybe it was because they didn't have anything to sing together, but she was still a dear friend to him.

Mercedes seemed surprised. She expected him to jump in and ask where Tina was. "I'm great, actually," she replied. "Rihanna just followed me on Twitter."

Artie smiled. "That's great," he said. If one of his friends were close to Rihanna, that would make him close to Rihanna too, right? "I bet you're going to be great friends. You might even replace Nicki Minaj in the Holy Trinity," he joked.

Mercedes' face straightened. "Don't diss my Nicki," she said. She leaned in to tell him something, "My manager is trying to get her to collaborate with me. It's looking good."

"Holy crap!" Artie shouted. "I'm so – I'm so – I'm happy for you, Mercedes. If anyone deserves a hit single, it's you," he assured. He felt so happy for her. After all this years, she finally had her big break.

They talked and caught up with each other some more. Artie told her about having Chlamydia – which apparently, everyone already knew about – thanks to Sam.

He showed her clips of his project.

"Is that Myron kid picking his nose at the back?" Mercedes said, leaning in to get a closer view.

They burst into laughter.

"When are you coming home to New York again?" Artie asked. "I missed you – Blake can't stop talking about you. Los Angeles isn't that great anyway."

Artie had this friend Blake in lit class who had the biggest crush on Mercedes when he saw her. He was a pervert though.

"After you remind me about Blake, I'm guessing never," Mercedes joked.

Artie frowned. Blake was a woman-repeller; it wasn't smart for Artie to mention him.

"I'm kidding," Mercedes said. "I think I have three weeks off before I get back to work on my album. I'm coming to see you guys soon," she promised. "Tina invited me to Providence though – although I don't think I'd like it there – don't tell her I said that. She could just come to New York with me."

"Right, New York always wins," Artie said. His voice easily trailed off.

"She's here," Mercedes assured when she noticed him looking around again.

Artie nodded. He sat beside Mercedes instead, trying his best to forget any worry. This was a great place to sit as well since it was beside the stage.

Saturday night was performance night.

"I wonder who's performing," Artie said; he had his camera already set. Rachel and Blaine were the ones who usually started these things.

A lot of them haven't tried it though. McKinley was safe, but Breadstix with strangers who just wanted to eat always seemed like a tough crowd for Artie.

They dimmed the lights. A spotlight shined the stage.

Sam sat down on the side and played his guitar.

_Take time to realize,  
That your warmth is crashing down on in._

A voice like an angel came and started singing.

_Take time to realize,  
That I am on your side.  
Didn't I, didn't I tell you?_

It was Tina.

_But I can't spell it out for you.  
No, it's never gonna be that simple.  
No, I can't spell it out for you._

Puck started to sing in from behind.

Artie felt every part of his body freeze. He was locked in his place. He couldn't move, because Tina's voice felt like it was wrapping itself around him, hugging him tightly, assuring him everything is fine.

_If you just realize what I just realized,  
Then we'd be perfect for each other,  
And we'll never find another.  
Just realize what I just realized.  
We'd never have to wonder if  
We missed out on each other now._

He wanted to hold her at that very moment, but she was singing. He wanted to apologize for ever bringing the past back. They have _now_, and that's what's important. They're in love now, and that's all that matters.

She loves him too, right?

_Take time to realize.  
Oh-oh, I'm on your side.  
Didn't I, didn't I tell you?_

Now she was looking right at him. She was smiling. Her smile was so forgiving. Every time he looked at it, it felt like home.

_Take time to realize  
This all can pass you by.  
Didn't I tell you?_

Mercedes rubbed his back. "It's for you," she assured him.

Now Artie was sure it was for him. He was so happy – he couldn't get over how weird he was feeling right now. He turned and looked at her for a brief moment, before turning back to Tina. "This is why you didn't show up for the last two days?" he asked.

"Mostly," Mercedes replied.

_But I can't spell it out for you.  
No, it's never gonna be that simple.  
No, I can't spell it out for you._

_If you just realize what I just realized  
Then we'd be perfect for each other,  
And we'll never find another.  
Just realize what I just realized.  
We'd never have to wonder if  
We missed out on each other but..._

_It's not the same,  
No, it's never the same  
If you don't feel it too.  
If you meet me halfway,  
If you would meet me halfway,  
It could be the same for you._

Puck took over the singing.

"Good evening everybody," Tina started. Her voice was so sweet and soft.

Artie couldn't help but chuckle. She still felt shy even if she already sang.

"I know it's not normal for people to speak _during_ the song. Usually, it's done before the performance, but I wanted to try something new," she said. She was speaking nervously, but everyone else was edging her to continue.

Everyone supported her.

Did that mean almost everyone knew?

Artie edged her to go on too. They were smiling at each other again. He mouthed an "I love you," and Tina couldn't help but giggle.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to my best friend, Artie Abrams," she said, pointing at Artie who couldn't help but blush. "All of you know who he is, obviously," she added. "However, not everyone knows who he is to _me_."

Artie felt like he was flying. What was she doing?

Tina smiled at Artie. "Listen carefully, okay?" she started. "I love you, Artie Abrams. You're my rock, you know?"

Artie nodded. He knew.

"Artie doesn't complete me," Tina continued, looking at everyone else. "But whenever I look at him, he reminds me how _I_ am already whole. And that's the best kind of love, to be honest. I wish I reminded him how wonderful and whole he already is too," she added.

Artie didn't know what to do. She was professing her love to him, and he was just sitting there.

He wanted to get back at her – give her the world in return. She deserved the love she was giving, if not, she deserved more.

She kept going, "Fritzgerald said, 'There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice.' And I am so happy to experience every kind of love within one person. What's done was done, Artie, and I can't take back whatever had happened to us before, but I will tell you right now, in front of all our friends, that I have loved you in so many ways. And I still do. I'm always proud of loving you – don't forget that."

Tina went down the stage. Artie immediately wheeled toward her.

She leaned over to him. "Now do you think everyone remembers us being together?"

Artie nodded. "They sure do, Tee."

He never called her Tee in years. It was so easy to slip back to old habits especially when you are returning as a better person.

"Are we okay?" Tina asked him nervously.

_Wasn't it obvious?_

Artie smiled, held her hand and said, "We're not _just_ okay. We're hella fine!"

"Good," Tina said, before kissing his forehead.

They had composure. Even if they wanted to have a make out session right there, right now, they were aware their friends were watching them while eating.

Puck was finished with the song. Everyone started clapping.

Tina pulled back and Artie let her. Even in separate, they couldn't help but leave a trace of smile in each other's faces.

"That was quick," Tina told him, regaining all composure – she felt weak in the knees. "I had a second song for you if Realize didn't bring you back. A happier song," she stated so everyone didn't feel bitter anymore.

"Everyone, here is my best girl friend, RnB Star, Mercedes Jones, doing me a favor," she continued.

Mercedes stood up, there were applause already. Cheerful music started playing.

_No, please don't cry  
I've never done this before, drove a million miles  
Back, when you were mine  
I was too young to know you were the one to find_

Everyone stood up and danced.

The waiters were thankful because no one noticed the plates of food were late.

_But if I was to say I'll forget it  
Would it mean a thing?  
Cause every time I think (I think) about it  
Memories take me back to all of the wildest times_

Plus, if it weren't for these kids from McKinley High, Breadstix would probably be out of business by now.

"Artie," Tina started when everyone's attention were no longer on them – which didn't take much time. She gave him her hand. "I still want to dance with you," she told him.

Artie took her hand. It only took them five years, but it was worth it.

_If I could change your mind  
I would hit the ground running  
It took time to realize  
And I never saw it coming  
Forgive my lying eyes  
Gonna give you all or nothing  
If I could change your mind  
I could make you mine, make you mine_

They went to the corner and hid from everyone's sight.

_Visions of our love pass right by me  
Your eyes are enough to remind me  
Visions of our love pass right by me  
Your eyes are enough to remind me  
Visions of our love remind me_

Tina embraced him and kissed him passionately. "I couldn't wait," she said.

"Ditto," he replied before kissing her back.

They were pretty excited to finish their meals.

* * *

**A/N: It was originally going to be just Realize, but I was listening to HAIM when I discovered If I Could Chang Your Mind, and it reminded me so much of Tina and Artie in that very moment while writing this chapter.**

**Reviews are very much appreciated, so please? I will love you (If I don't yet.)**


	9. 8 My Love

**A/N: So no one told me my fic wasn't featuring the characters Artie A. and Tina C., and it had been floating in the nothingness of character selections, so I've changed that now. I've also changed the cover - what do you think? I also changed the rating to m, just to be safe.**

**Warning: Unsafe driving, the f word, and (they have sex - eep).**

**Please tell me if it's too detailed or if it can pass as Rated T. It's Rated M now, just to be safe. This is probably the farthest I'd go in detailed sex scenes. I hope y'all still read it.**

* * *

They had teamed up in making excuses to why they had to leave early, despite everyone already knowing what they meant. Still, it was weird to think about _it_ finally happening.

The light from Breadstix traced their way to Tina's car. They can still hear the laughter and music linger from inside, but there was a special kind of noise that filled the two of them.

Neither of them wanted to speak, fearing that the other might lose the mood. They couldn't take their hands off each other a minute ago, and now they're barely speaking. It was a good kind of silence though.

"Where to?" Tina asked as she prepped Artie inside the car.

Artie didn't answer.

She sat in the driver's seat. She prepared a lot of things before driving. She turned the radio on before turning it off again. Silence was better. Her playlist was nothing compared to the sound of Artie's breath.

He was already looking at her when she looked at him.

The streetlight was illuminating Tina's face; she looked different but the same. "I love you," he said – the words just slipped carelessly out of his mouth. It's always the right time to tell her.

Tina wanted to cringe, but she couldn't fight the smile crippling through her face. "One more time and I'll believe you," she joked.

"I love you," he repeated, but a laugh escaped from him.

Tina laughed too. Everything was so _cheesy_. "This is better," she said. "Today was cheesy enough."

"I still can't believe you prepared all _that_ for me," he admitted. It was probably the greatest surprise of his life.

"Well, Abrams, I'm a pretty unbelievable girl," she replied with a sly smile. Her grin broke when she had noticed Artie's face only an inch away from hers. She could feel his breath resting on her mouth. He was so close – she wanted him to touch her.

Artie hesitated. He thought the seconds before the kiss, when their faces were getting closer, and their body felt still and anxious and excited – waiting was just as good, but he had waited long enough.

His hands slid from her shoulder to the back of her neck. He was kissing her, and she was kissing him back so eagerly that they're tongues felt like dancing.

Artie moved forward. Tina had her arms wrapped around him; her hand was lingering from his hair to his ass. She wanted to pull his pants away at that very moment, while his hands were already working its way to her breasts.

Tina opened the back of her bra. As she felt Artie's skin on her chest, a moan escaped from her lips.

Artie shivered at the sound. His body shifted to right, causing his shoulder to hit the bumper.

Tina's car honked.

The both of them bolted back to a sitting position.

"Where to?" Tina asked again, finally starting the car.

"My dick – house," Artie replied, saying the first thing that entered his mind.

Tina stepped on it. She wasn't going to let anything ruin this night. Her hormones were driving her crazy.

It wasn't safe to drive that fast, but they just wanted to get in a room.

Tina wouldn't let anything happen to ruin the mood, so when her right hand wasn't doing anything, it'd purposely wander to Artie's crotch.

"Tina," Artie said when he finally noticed. "Mine doesn't work that way, and it isn't safe."

"Okay," Tina said. She didn't really know what that meant, but she let it pass. She figured the more she concentrated on her driving, the faster they'd get there. It was just seven blocks after all.

What were seven blocks felt like seven cities. Tina had to park two houses from Artie's so his parents won't hear them coming. As for hearing them come in his room – that's a problem they'd just have to remember when it was happening.

Tina shut her car's engine off. She went outside to get Artie's chair and help him out.

She looked at the house she parked in front of. "I think this is Ruth's house," she said as the both of them left the car.

They were excited, but they didn't want to seem like robbers running about since they were the only ones outside the streets. The both of them always enjoyed talking anyway.

"Who's that?" Artie asked.

"The girl who dared us to join glee club," she said. "How can you not remember? They were our only friends before glee."

"_You_ were my only friend before glee," he corrected her. "They were just lunch seatmates to me."

"Right," she replied. She didn't like the two either. They just _looked_ like the right friends for her.

"Why didn't we hang out with them anymore?" he asked.

"I forgot," Tina lied.

She remembered Ruth and Willie mocking Artie's disability - not only did they call him Crippleton behind his back, but they were the ones who stuck bubble gum all around both his wheels.

"At least I don't use black sharpie for lipstick nor do I stick a dead animal's tail up my ass. For the last time, Willie, it's not unique, it's just plain disgusting!" she distinctively remembered telling them. "E-eat m-my s-shorts," she added, remembering she had to have a stutter. She was so pissed off at the two that she almost forgot her three years of hard work as a girl with a stutter.

Tina thought being a bully wasn't very Goth. Well, it was, but she always avoided that part. She never told Artie though. All he knew was Tina didn't feel like spending time with the two, so neither did he.

"Kurt and Mercedes were so much better," Artie replied, smiling.

"So much better, yeah," she assured with a smile at the thought. Even if she was touched by Artie saying she was his only friend before glee, it was nice to know other people had their back.

She started rubbing his shoulder as they walked under the streetlights. She liked it, he liked it – it was a win-win for everyone.

He held her hand.

This walk was nice. It was long though.

When they finally reached Artie's porch, Artie looked at Tina with a sly smirk on his face and announced, "Welcome to the _love club_!"

"I'm so mad that I'm turned on by that," said Tina. _God_, can't they just get inside already.

They didn't bother turning the lights on when they got in, since Artie's mother might see them. It was dark, but Artie memorized the way to his room. He was rushing to get into Tina's pants.

He bumped on a corner on his way; a vase tumbled, but only on the table. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath. "Go on without me," he said. "My mom's coming."

"Artie," Tina started. "I love you, but you're overreacting. You're mom couldn't have possibly heard that –" but she heard footsteps from upstairs. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Her lips were then positioned near his ear.

In the most seductive voice that she could muster, she whispered, "_I'll be waiting for your love stick, Mr. Abrams_." It was supposed to be hilarious, but she was strangely turned on by the words love stick.

"Great," Artie muttered. He could feel the hair on his arms stand. "My mom is going to see me with a boner. Bye, Tee."

He rolled toward the stairs to wait for his mother.

Tina rushed to Artie's room, shutting the door and waiting for him. She wished she had candles or – _something_ to make it more special. It was her first time with someone who wasn't Mike Chang. Better, it was her first time with _Artie_.

She smiled at the thought. She wanted to take her clothes off and surprise him, but she figured it wasn't a good idea considering her mother liked to accompany him to his room before.

Nancy Abrams finding a naked Tina Cohen-Chang on her son's room didn't seem like a very pleasing Saturday night for her. It would be a very pleasing night for her son though.

Through the door, she heard Artie say, "It was a great night, mom. I have to sleep now."

"Have you packed already?" his mom asked.

"No, but I'll wake up early to do so tomorrow," he assured.

"Who's going to be on the train with you?" her mom asked some more.

"Tina," he started. "Then she's riding a train to Providence."

Tina liked the way he said her name. Even through doors and moms, you could really tell he's smitten about her.

"Kurt, Blaine, Rachel – you know them, too," he continued.

"Burt?"

"_Kurt_, mom," he corrected. "Burt is Kurt's dad."

"I wanted to name you Percy, did you know that?" she said.

The conversation seemed like it wasn't ending.

Tina sighed. Taking off her shoes, she lied down on Artie's bed. She thought about how it would feel like to be fully naked with him – so vulnerable and so together. She wondered how her certain body parts would feel against his certain body parts. Lastly, she wondered what Nancy meant about the name thing because Artie already rhymed with Nancy to begin with – well, sort of.

She started picking a playlist to build up the mood. She pressed play.

_Ain't another woman that can take your spot my-_

It was lightly playing so she could still hear what's happening outside. She heard the wheels of Artie's chair grow louder. She wondered if his mother was with him too; her first instinct was to hide under the bed. And that's just what she did.

_If I wrote you a symphony,  
Just to say how much you mean to me (what would you do?)_

She heard the door open.

"Where the hell are you?" Artie said as he continued to roll inside.

Tina peaked. "Hey," she said, finally revealing herself.

Artie chuckled. "Why were you under there?"

"Your mother might've followed you," Tina explained.

His face cringed. "Why the hell would she do that?"

"I don't know," she answered. "She would tuck you in or something." It sounded weirder when said out loud.

"I'm a grown-ass man, Tina," Artie said, trying to look offended.

"Well, she used to," she said.

"That was five years ago," he reminded her. Still, he was already turning _sixteen_ by then.

Tina was surprised at how long that was. It felt like yesterday. She couldn't believe how blurry it was to differentiate five years to five days.

She dimmed the lights before walking up to him.

_Yeah, because  
I can see us holding hands  
Walking on the beach, our toes in the sand  
I can see us on the countryside  
Sitting on the grass, laying side by side  
You could be my baby, let me make you my lady  
Girl, you amaze me  
Ain't gotta do nothing crazy  
See, all I want you to do is be my love_

He just looked at her, stunned at how beautiful she was.

She smiled at him, walking closer and closer before sitting on top of him and unbuttoning his shirt. She could feel it harden from below. "You like that?" she teased.

_(So don't give away) My love_

He's finally naked in front of her and he doesn't feel ashamed of his body at all. He's usually drunk before he'd be ready to be shirtless in front of a girl, but Tina was always different. She was always special. He felt magnetic in front of her. He felt like he was mirroring her beauty.

_(So don't give away) My love_

Tina looked at his chest – she looked at his bones – she looked at his skin. She wanted to feel every inch of it. Immediately, she took her dress off as well.

_(So don't give away) Ain't another woman that can take your spot, my love_

She leaned in to kiss him. He leaned in to kiss her. They were skin to skin to skin to skin.

One of his hands was rubbing her thigh and working its way under her underwear while the other was trying to maneuver the both of them closer to his bed. He motioned for her to move on to the bed as he followed, dragging himself off the chair.

Tina slowly took her bra off of her, before she realized he still had his glasses on. She took it off and placed it in the bed side table. After that, she lied down.

They began kissing again. It was so lovely that the both of them could feel their lips curving in the middle of the kisses.

Artie's lips were travelers to Tina's body, marking their steps in every part of her skin. She moaned every time they danced on her. Their favorite place seemed to be her chest.

"Artie," she whispered, pulling his hair in every pleasure she received.

His hands were great travelers as well; making sure it wouldn't miss a mark, tendering every place by rubbing it ever so gently while working its way down.

Artie tried, although failingly, to keep his cool voice intact. "Tina," he whispered seductively in her ear.

He looked at her panting at every pleasure, and smirked.

"_Baby, do you like that?_" he whispered on her neck, as he moved his fingers in any way that made her moan some more.

_Artie was really good_, Tina thought, _even though his pants weren't off yet_. _That_ was a problem.

Breathless, she turned so she'd be on top of him. He smiled knowingly. He unbuttoned his pants for her before she could pull it off.

He massaged her hair as she did it. Even the pressure of his soft hands on her head was enough to make her sigh dreamily. _He loved her so much_, he thought.

As his pants were completely off, she winked at him before doing things she knew he'd like.

"Tina," he finally moaned. He wasn't keeping his cool now – he never did, and now he couldn't even try. She was too _damn_ good and beautiful.

He just watched her work her way up to him again. Her entire body was a traveler working every way to get through him.

"Baby," she started. "Do you like that?" she teased, as she explored some more. He loved how she won't break eye contact no matter where she was.

She smirked as she saw it stand. "I thought so," she told him.

They were chest to chest again – that was their favorite part since they got to see each other so close. "I-" she couldn't say it because things _came_ in the way, interrupting her words – she wasn't complaining though. "I-" she tried again.

He couldn't say anything. He didn't try. He was too busy enjoying his own struggle to breathe.

She gave up trying to let the words out, enjoying every moment as he enjoyed his. They were one. He'd understand what she wanted to say – she didn't need to. This was action enough.

She liked how he smelled like peppermint and sweat. "I love you," she said when she finally could – they've been saying it so many times and have been proving it in so many ways tonight.

They were still out of breath. They were panting on each other, struggling to find anything else to say.

"Good job," Artie said which made Tina burst into laughter.

She said, "I love you," and all Artie could say was, "Good job?"

He didn't know what to feel about her laughing. Well, he actually did. He felt mortified and embarrassed. "You already know I love you," he stated. "I couldn't stop thinking about how much I loved you during… everything that we did tonight."

Tina smiled at that. "Good job," she teased before kissing him again.

"Yeah," he sighed dreamily, before it turned into a vicious cycle of making love, saying terms of affection, and repeat. They didn't feel like stopping though.

It took an hour and thirty minutes for them to finally stop. They didn't want to, they just had to. "Your sheets are filthy," Tina commented.

"Well, we were pretty dirty," Artie told her teasingly.

Tina tried her very best to control her urges to kiss him and have sex with him again… for the fourth or fifth time.

They were now lying next to each other. She looked at him, and he looked at her. The two of them almost smiled in unison.

"We did good?" Artie asked.

"We did great," Tina assured.

The two of them felt naked, but it still felt normal. They could do this every day, she imagined.

Tina's phone beeped a message. She took it from the bedside table; 'Mom,' it read. She opened it in a position that both of them could read.

'Where are you?' her mom asked.

Tina looked at Artie. "I don't think I should tell her the truth," she said.

He agreed, laughing at the thought of Tina texting something like, "Naked at Artie's bed lol.' He felt bad laughing about since he remembered being initially scared of Mrs. Stella Chang. "Where would she want you to be?"

"At the library studying," Tina joked. "It's almost two in the morning though. I don't think that would work."

"How about telling her you're with the alumni?" Artie suggested. They were with them a while ago anyway.

"Sure," Tina considered. Her mom loved her spending time with the glee kids anyway. "That way I can tell her I'm with you," she said.

He thought it was a bad idea, but he agreed. He wanted to believe she was proud of him.

'Im with the alumni,' Tina replied, before typing, 'Talking to artie rn!' She liked using emojis.

"Why is there an emoji of a turtle?" Artie asked, confused.

"My mom thought of you as a turtle," she said. "It's a good thing," she assured when she noticed his face flinch.

"Okay," he said, thinking Mrs. Chang was always obsessed with reptiles. "Do you want to sleep now?" he asked as he was absent-mindedly playing with her hair.

"No," she replied looking at him. "I just want to lay here like this for a while and look at you."

They stared at each other. It was nice. The both of them were locked in each other's gazes. They'd slip glances at each other's body at times, admiring every bit of it.

_This feeling was something you'd write in the movies_, Artie thought.

"Can I ask you something?" Tina started.

"Shoot," he said.

She recalled that moment they were in the car and Artie told her _it_ didn't work that way. "What did you mean by your penis not working that way?" she said, glancing at his crotch. It worked perfectly _fine_, she thought.

"There are two types of erections," he started, thinking he sounded a little too medical. "One is through physical sensations – that's called a reflex erection, while the other one is through mental simulations – that's the erection I usually have, since you know, I can't feel anything down there. I also didn't want us to crash the car," he added.

Tina looked at him, silent. "Oh," she said.

He was waiting for an actual reply, but she didn't know what to say. Putting thought, she asked, "But you enjoyed it, right?" She really enjoyed it.

Artie chuckled. "Hell yeah," he said.

She smiled at that, she moved closer to him. One of his arms was wrapped around her. She was lying on his chest.

It was silent, but it was nice. They finally noticed the music playing behind them again.

_I wanna love you, you already know  
I wanna love you, you already know_

_Money in the air as mo' fell  
Grab you by your coattail, take you to the motel, ho sale  
Don't tell, won't tell, baby say "I don't talk, Dogg unless you told on me" - oh well  
Take a picture wit me, what the flick gon' do  
Baby stick to me and I'ma stick on you  
If you pick me then I'ma pick on you  
d-o-double g and I'm here to put this dick on you_

The both of them started laughing.

"Snoop Dogg turns you on?" he asked her as she looked up at him.

"Shut up," she said, embarrassed. She _knew_ shouldn't have trusted a playlist on Spotify.

"We don't need music to turn us on – I barely even noticed it," he said, tracing circles in her bare back.

She liked the feeling, but it was making her sleep. She didn't want to sleep. She wanted this night to last longer, they were leaving tomorrow.

"You should sleep," Artie told her when he noticed her humming to the sounds of Akon. She liked to hum every time she felt sleepy.

"No," she said. She didn't want to miss every moment of this. She was scared of leaving him with nothing again. "I don't want to go back to Providence," she admitted. She was having such a tough time with everything – distance was always hard for her. She knew she'd do everything to prevent it, but the thought of being away from Artie scared her.

"Why?" he asked her. He had a concerned expression on his face. He frowned at the idea of Tina having a hard time making friends. "Are people mean to you, aside from your awful roommate?"

She shook her head. "It's not that," she started. She didn't want to continue. She didn't trust herself anymore.

"What is it then?" Artie asked her, worried.

"What if," she started, feeling like she didn't want to continue but she had to feel validation. "I'm scared _it_ might happen again." She held him tighter, scared he was going to be mad again.

The thought disturbed Artie. Tina was never good with long distances. Asian Camp was just a city away; New York and Providence were different states. His heart couldn't stop throbbing – he was giving himself a headache remembering Mike Chang and the phone call again.

He didn't know what to do. His first instinct was to get her off of his chest, but she was holding him so tightly. She was rubbing his stomach, calming him down. It was just a question.

"I trust you," he said. Judging by the way she's holding him, she wasn't planning on letting go.

It was both their fault before, he reminded himself.

"I would never ignore you again," he assured her as he kissed her head. It smelled like strawberries and vanilla – just like always.

"I don't want to ever think you don't love me again," she told him. "I don't want to ever think you're pushing me away, okay? I love you too much to let go again," she said. "Talk to me whenever you can."

"Tee, when we weren't dating, you still managed to be the number one person in my contacts – it wouldn't change now," he promised her. "I don't have a social life anyway," he joked. "Now get some rest, you're going to wake up tomorrow, and we're still going to be Tartie. Or Artina for you," he assured her.

"Good," Tina told him before giving him a peck on his tummy. She turned to her phone to shut the rap music off. She started humming a random tune.

Artie hummed with her.

She lied on his chest, matching hums with her lover's beating heart.

The both of them fell asleep with the feeling of reassurance and stronger love.

* * *

**A/N: No one sings here, but you can imagine Artie singing Justin Timberlake's song - that's always hot.**

**This chapter was heavily centered around them (the entire story, actually) so I might be trying something new in the next chapter. Who do you want me to focus on?**

**Reviews are always appreciated. I love you guys.**


	10. 9 Maturity

**A/N: Rewatching Glee and analyzing every thing to make this fic canon-compliant is literally taking a toll on my mental health. So I'm sorry if it isn't as canon-compliant as I want it to be. I respect the writers, but they've actually butchered everyone - it literally hurts my head. Everyday, even if it's over, I get so pissed remembering.**

**I added New Directions as a main character if you didn't notice. They're darn important in the story too.**

**This is another pretty long chapter. It focuses on other characters too. I wanted to add more ch****aracters in the conversations to show what they're up to, but I couldn't bring them in at the right time. I promise as we get to the ending, every character will have a happy ending and closure. (Not sure about all the ships as endgames though)**

**I hope you appreciate this. Enjoy reading and review if you can!**

* * *

Tina had awoken to the sound of birds chirping outside the window, and the gleam of light shining on her lover's chest from the sun rays outside.

Artie had seemed to sense her movement as he opened his eyes. "You're still here," he said, smiling at the sight of Tina Cohen-Chang perfectly calm and rested on his arm.

She smiled at the sight him looking at her. "I better get going," she said as she began to sit up. She looked for her dress and slipped it back on.

"Wait," Artie said.

She turned to look at him. Her smile failed to shake out of her. She remembered everything last night. It still felt like a perfect dream.

"If they catch you, tell the truth," he said, referring to his parents who were usually up at this time. "You're the first girl I ever invited here to do… _it_," he explained, quite shyly.

Excluding his life at New York, Artie had always slept in the girls' houses whenever he engaged in sex. It's sort of hard to sneak out, since he has a chair and all, but the girls he had dated seemed to have open-minded parents. He didn't think his parents were close-minded and all, but he'd like to keep himself innocent in their eyes. His parents were the only one who thought about him like that, and he wanted it to remain that way.

If his parents needed to know who he was sleeping with, he was glad it was Tina.

Tina smiled at Artie's confession. She turned back to head to him and give him a long sweet kiss on the lips.

Neither of them felt like last night had ended.

"I'm honored," she replied when she retreated back. "But don't worry, they won't see me. I'm a ninja."

She wanted to cringe at the word _ninja_, but she was as fast and pretty damn quick-witted as them – and it wasn't because she was Asian.

"Tina?" Nancy Abrams greeted, right as Tina opened Artie's bedroom door.

Tina couldn't speak. She felt mortified. Her mouth hung open; she tried to say something, but the words couldn't come out of her mouth. "I-I," she started, but didn't know how to continue it.

She wished Artie backed her up with an excuse, but he was naked behind her. This was Nancy, his overprotective mother.

"I had sex with her," she heard him blurt out from behind. He was still lying down the bed – sheets were the only thing that covered his "pride."

Tina shut her eyes tight.

Last night was amazing, but Artie's words felt like an excuse to ban Tina from the Abrams' household. She couldn't even turn to glare at him.

She opened her eyes slowly, surprised to see Nancy's expression rather confused than disgusted.

"That's nice," said the woman, before heading inside and taking her son's laundry basket.

Tina and Artie just stared at her. _That's it?_

"Are you heading to New York too, dear?" she continued speaking to Tina as if she caught them playing video games or something a little more innocent than playing with each other's genitals.

Maybe Artie's parents weren't as protective and conservative as he had drawn them out to be. Maybe they had accepted Artie growing up more than he had accepted it himself.

"Yeah," Tina replied timidly as she watched Nancy pick up Artie's clothes from the floor and placing them on the basket. She stared at her bra – as if she could make them disappear.

Luckily, Nancy ignored it. Tina knew she had seen it though.

_Nancy Abrams is so cool_, she thought.

It was awkward after the whole breakup. It took a year before Artie invited her to his house again.

At first, Nancy was cold towards her - it was only natural since she left her son crying and miserable, but as time passed and she had seen her son move on, she accepted Tina like a daughter again.

Tina had always thought the treatment was like an adopted daughter - guess that changed today since she just had sex with her son.

She followed Nancy out, taking one quick glance at Artie – an expression that read both confusion and adoration.

X

It was after twelve noon when Artie had arrived at the Train Station heading to New York. Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel were already there – early as always.

Rachel and Kurt were sitting on the bench, looking straight into what seemed like nothingness. They seemed like they haven't even noticed Artie arriving. They looked saddened by something.

"Hey Artie," Blaine greeted ever so enthusiastically. He seemed oblivious to his husband's and his best friend's expressions.

"Hey," Artie greeted, looking behind Blaine. "What's wrong with the two?" he asked.

Blaine looked at the two as well, suddenly painting a worried look on his face, he replied, "They're just going to miss McKinley."

That might be Kurt's reason, but Rachel looked angry about something else. It might be Broadway or Sam or both. Whatever it was, Artie knew he didn't have the right to ask.

Finally, Kurt stirred, looking at his friend. "Artie," he said, trying to sound as cheerful as he can manage – not very much. "Where's your girlfriend?" he teased, smiling when he noticed Artie blushing.

"You know, Tina," Artie started as a smile crept up on his face. "She's always almost late." Even complaining about how tardy she was sounded like a huge compliment coming from him.

Kurt nodded. "I see," he said. He had a mischievous grin on his face. "Had fun last night?"

Artie's smile was enough to assure Kurt that was all he needed to know.

"Well," Rachel started, finally speaking. "She better be here before 1pm."

"She will," Artie assured.

He took a quick glance at Kurt as if to ask what the hell was wrong with Rachel – she looked so happy last night. Did he miss something at Breadstix?

Kurt shrugged. His face was implying that he knew, but couldn't tell Artie because the girl was literally three feet away from the both of them and even if she seemed absorbed with herself, she could still hear people's conversations.

Everything fell silent.

Blaine seemed to be the only one who wanted to talk to everyone, but no one seemed to want to talk to him.

Ten minutes later, Artie heard a grunt that could only resemble the grunt of the love of his life. He wheeled around and saw Tina carrying a lot of bags with her. He bid the three goodbye, before maneuvering towards her.

Tina was hesitant at first; Artie wasn't some kind of trolley that you can push around and put things on, but he insisted. She still carried few of her luggages though.

The two seemed to be absorbed in each other's worlds, forgetting the three on the bench.

Kurt leaned in to Blaine, not in an affectionate manner, but in a manner that suggests he has got something to say. "I called it," he whispered.

The two of them were just staring at both Artie and Tina.

Blaine took his eyes off of the two for a brief moment, before looking at his husband's. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"I knew they were getting back together," Kurt said.

"I didn't even realize they were together," Blaine replied.

"So," Kurt continued – this was always a secret guilty pleasure of his. "How long will you think they'd last this time?"

Blaine looked at Kurt, still confused at where he was going.

"Oh, come on," Kurt started, finally feeling happy about leaving. "People do that to us too. We aren't going to use real money to bet – that would be wrong. We're just guessing."

Blaine shrugged. "One to three months, I guess," he said, still feeling uncomfortable with the idea, especially now knowing that people do the same with his relationship.

Kurt gasped. He looked pretty offended with his husband's answer.

"You weren't there during our senior year," Blaine explained. "They were nightmares to each other."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I bet even if they were nightmares to each other… and to _you_, they still had each other's backs?"

Blaine looked at his husband with amazement. He loved how excited Kurt was over little things like this – the fire in Kurt's eyes when he is so sure he's right with how he perceives other people. He always saw this kind of confidence when Kurt was in front of the glee kids.

"How did you know that?" he asked in interest over his lover's drive than the topic that they were actually conversing about.

Kurt smirked, giving himself a mental pat in the back. "You weren't there when they were together – they were perfect for each other."

He was always sure about other people when it didn't involve him.

He could hear the train approach. Tina and Artie were already positioned on the edges, waiting for the train.

"Rachel," he called, as the train was already there.

Rachel gloomily stood up and brought all her stuff with her. Kurt and Blaine didn't bring much, so they decided to help her.

Kurt compared his bag to Tina's. It looked like she brought an entire room with her.

"Hey Kurt," Tina said as he went beside her.

Kurt smiled. "Hello," he replied. He was eyeing the both of them. He didn't know why he enjoyed seeing the two together again. It felt like they were kids again - not that being a sophomore was an actual happy memory to reminisce about.

The train stopped in front of them and all of them entered. Blaine and Tina helped Artie onto a seat, placing his wheelchair somewhere on the side.

Blaine and Kurt sat at the chair across them, leaving Rachel alone.

"So," Blaine continued the conversation he had with his husband before. "What do you think?" he asked as he nudged in the two lovers sitting across them. He didn't really feel comfortable talking about other people, but he liked the way Kurt liked it.

Artie had her arm around Tina. They were wearing earphones so they were basically communicating through music again.

Blaine blocked Kurt's vision of the two. His eyes were curious, reminding Kurt of a very eager puppy.

"Five," Kurt replied. He felt very sure of his answer.

"Exactly five months?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. "Years," he corrected him. "Five years to… forever," he said.

Blaine scoffed at that. "You're so cute," he said. "I love you."

Kurt knew it was supposed to be cute, the way Blaine would gush at how excited he was over things that felt small. It didn't matter what Blaine thought though. He was confident of his friends.

All he did was smile at what his husband told him.

He missed this, Kurt thought. He missed how much he interacted with other people. He missed how he got to observe every one of them. He was going to miss glee when Nationals was over.

New York for Kurt had been filled with Blaine and sometimes Rachel and Artie – it was nice, but it wasn't as great as home.

McKinley had never been a peaceful place for Kurt, but the joy he felt in being the leader, being someone people looked up to for guidance and support, felt really great there. He knew he belonged in a place like that. Being a mentor for the New Directions felt different compared to when he was an actual member. He wasn't sure if it was better, but it was a good kind of different.

He was already missing something that wasn't over yet.

Surely, Rachel felt the same, he thought. He glanced over at Rachel who was sitting alone, staring at the train's window. He wanted to move and talk to her - cheer her up or something. Maybe, talk about glee.

Kurt softly nudged his shoulder for Blaine to stir.

Blaine began to murmur, "What is it?"

"I'm going to talk to Rachel for a second," Kurt replied, already standing up.

"Well, okay, just come back, okay? I'm right here… I'm… here," Blaine continued while he was still half asleep.

Rachel seemed to be entranced with how the train was moving so quickly. She hadn't noticed Kurt coming up to her if he hadn't taken a seat.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound lively. She knew they were growing tired of how melancholic she seemed.

"How are you doing?" Kurt asked in a soft tone.

Despite winning Regionals, it hadn't been a great month for Rachel. She had done badly at her Broadway show again, and despite Cassandra being out of the picture, NYADA was still taking its toll on her. To top it all off, she had cooled things off with Sam.

Rachel scoffed. "How do you think?" she asked. She couldn't hide the pain in her eyes any more.

Kurt had a concerned look on his face. He studied hers; they were in the verge of tears. "Not very good," he admitted while looking at her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She let out a soft laugh, before tearing up again. "I don't know," she started. "I know I should be happy we won, but it feels like I'm going back to New York losing something instead of gaining something – and I can't – I-I can't pinpoint what it is."

Kurt hugged his friend with one arm as she let it all out. He loved Mercedes, but he wasn't too thrilled with her being back together with Sam.

"This isn't about Sam," Rachel told him, as if she could read his mind. "I want to be upset about that too, but I'm not. I knew it was over a long time ago… I think we were just too nice to call it off." She started speaking very quickly again, like there was word vomit coming out of her. "I thought NYADA giving me another chance was all the redemption I needed, but going back to McKinley, I realize I have a lot of redemptions to prove," she added.

"You don't have to prove anything, Rachel, you've already done so much for the kids," Kurt said to help her. It was true. Rachel was never one to sacrifice herself for a team, but she'd surprisingly done so much for them. If it weren't for her, glee club would still be over.

"It's not something I have to prove to myself," Rachel replied. She tried to choke back tears that wanted to come out. "Lately," she continued. "Every time I teach them, I feel _Finn_ with me." Tears came flowing down her eyes. Her words mixed in with her sobs. "And every time I leave, I feel like I'm leaving Finn behind. This was his dream – and I could do a better job if I wasn't heading back to New York every other week."

Rachel dove into Kurt's arms. Kurt hugged his friend so tightly, not giving a crap of how weird people's looks on them were. "I miss him, too," he said. It had been more than a year already and he still felt a pang on his chest every time he addressed the fact that his step-brother was gone.

"Rachel," he continued. He figured it wasn't the time to be sad. "It was Finn's dream, okay? Not yours, _his_. You've done so much already. I'm sure he watches you every night and grins at how much you've helped and how much you're doing for yourself. You've kept New Directions alive, okay? That's what's important."

Rachel just stared at him. She wanted to believe him. No matter what faith she put in what Kurt said, it still boiled down to Finn being gone.

"I could feel him helping us," Kurt continued. "Didn't you see the dance steps on Cool Kids? _Yikes_!"

Rachel burst into laughter. Cool Kids' choreography was kind of Finn-like… terrible yet cute.

"Each and every one of them still shined, because there was a star that mirrored them," he added. "I'm sure even in New York, whether you're studying in NYADA or auditioning for Broadway, a star will always look down on you – that would always be Finn. The both of you will always shine, okay?" he assured.

Rachel nodded.

"Teaching isn't your thing, you know that, I know that – everyone knows that," Kurt joked. "We all know you were meant to perform. Don't slack off this time, okay?"

"Thank you," Rachel said as she wiped her tears away.

She glanced behind him. She saw Blaine sleeping by himself, occupying two seats. "Aren't you going to sit beside him?"

Kurt shrugged. "We can do more than just sit when we get back home," he said. "This is nice," he commented, referring to the way he was bonding with her.

He figured Rachel was the only one who had been with him since the start of glee, it wouldn't hurt to talk to her about normal things again… and by normal, he meant immature things like gossip.

_Gray, quiet and tired and mean  
Picking at a worried seam  
I try to make you mad at me over the phone.  
Red eyes and fire and signs  
I'm taken by a nursery rhyme  
I want to make a ray of sunshine and never leave home_

Tina and Artie had been pretending to sleep on each other's heads the whole train ride when they had been communicating via shared glances and laughter. When they heard Rachel and Kurt's conversation about Finn and New York, they couldn't help but feel sad as well.

_No amount of coffee, no amount of crying  
No amount of whiskey, no amount of wine  
No, no, no, no, no,  
nothing else will do  
I've gotta have you, I've gotta have you._

Only one of their ears had earphones, so they couldn't really help but overhear the conversation. They had thoughts about it on their own.

_The road gets cold, there's no spring in the meadow this year  
I'm the new chicken clucking open hearts and ears  
Oh, such a prima donna, sorry for myself  
But green, it is also summer  
And I won't be warm 'til I'm lying in your arms_

They felt the way Rachel felt back in McKinley, even back in Ohio. It felt like they were young again. They felt like young love was back. They felt like young love never left.

"We're going to bring each other in New York and Providence, right?" Tina asked him. Despite being the one who gave up, she needed the assurance more.

"Of course," Artie said before giving Tina a kiss on the cheek. Something else was on his mind.

"What is it?" Tina asked. She could tell by the look on his face that something was bothering him.

"It's my parents," he answered.

It wasn't the answer Tina had expected, but she was sort of relieved it had nothing to do with them. "What about them?" she questioned, recalling the awkward and amazing encounter she had with his mother this morning.

"Is it weird that I feel sort of upset she didn't freak out?" he asked as he fiddled with Tina's iPod.

Tina examined him. He was embarrassed with his answer; she could tell by the way it bothered him. "Not at all," she answered. She knew it was what he wanted to hear. If he had a problem about it, she was all ears.

"I don't know," Artie continued. "I hate New York," he admitted. "It had always been my dream, but now that I'm actually there, I hate it every day."

"Why?" Tina asked. She loved Artie, but she was going to slap some sense to him if his answer would be something close to because she wasn't there.

"It isn't actually handicap-friendly," he admitted. "Every time I'm there, I want to go home. I miss my parents. They were so protective of me over everything. Now they finally trust me on my own – they accept me as an adult, but I'm not even sure I am an adult. I still need them, Tina."

Tina wanted to protest that having sex wasn't really the birth of becoming an adult, but she knew where he was coming from. "You're on your second year, Artie," she reminded him. He had been that long on his own, and he had been doing pretty great.

"Yeah, and look what that got me – Chlamydia, a failing grade in film history and I've got mugged _thrice_," he complained.

"You said you've got mugged twice," Tina replied, worried.

"Oh, I didn't tell you the last time, because it was just a week after I got mugged for the second time," he explained.

Tina was concerned by what she had been hearing. Of course, it was a bad idea to show him that. She tried to be confident for the both of them.

"Artie," she started, rubbing the back of his hand. She knew that feeling calmed him down. "Your parents still pay for your college tuition. Your parents still take you in whenever you visit. They may think you're an adult now, but you will always be their child. They love you, and now, they trust you to make decisions on your own. Whether it is right or wrong, please know that all of us are here to help you," she assured.

She placed her mouth close to his ear. He felt her breath trace his neck. "And I will help you in any way you want me to, okay?"

Artie had to cover his crotch. He loved her so much. "Thank you, Tina."

Tina remembered how Kitty helped him talk to his mother. She wished it was her, but what's done is done. She was grateful for that, she was glad Artie was grateful for that too.

The train arrived at New York thirty minutes later.

Tina addressed Kurt, Rachel, and Blaine when they arrived at the train station.

"I'm really going to miss you, guys," she said, hugging each of them. One of her hand was still clutched on Artie's chair. She had to leave, a different train was going to take her to Providence.

"Please come to Nationals," Rachel asked, but she knew it was a lost cause.

Tina looked at Artie and he looked back. The three knew they had other plans. "I really want to, Rachel, but I don't think I can. I will try to visit after though."

She just _had_ to promise that. Now, she knew she was coming back to Ohio soon for whatever reason. She never liked breaking promises.

"Are you heading straight to Providence or…" Blaine stopped his sentence as soon as he realized it was too private. Artie and Tina just smiled at him.

"I am," she replied sadly. She wanted to stay longer, but judging by the number of luggage she brought, she couldn't move much.

"Text us – or _him_ when you get to Providence, okay?" Kurt added, before bidding Tina a good bye again. "And pack lighter next time," he reminded.

"I will," Tina promised.

A different train was heading near. She didn't want to leave so soon, but she had to. She had classes the next day. Mr. Simpsons was her professor again, and she wanted to remain on his good side.

She leaned in on Artie. They smiled at each other, before sharing a kiss.

"Call me when you get home," she told him.

"I'll call you right when you enter the train," he said with a cheeky grin.

"I don't want you to get mugged for the fourth time. That's bad luck," she answered in a worried tone, but she was still smiling.

"Okay," he said.

Artie, along with the others, watched Tina Cohen-Chang leave as Amtrak took her to Providence.

He smiled. She was coming back.

* * *

**A/N: I don't know how train stations in America work, but I think it's pretty close to this? Google wasn't showing me any train stations from Ohio to Providence, but Amtrak was basically Ohio - New York - Providence, so I'm sorry if I put a headcanon for engineering transportation. I hope you appreciate the gist though.**

**Also, review would make me happy and probably guide me better, but your call.**

**Btw, I cried because I miss Finn and Cory in this chapter - I'm weird. Thanks for reading.**


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